Immortal Love
by Lucy Labrador
Summary: Shadow has to save the world from Black Doom by making a deal with him. This deal includes a big sacrifice, which may put the world in even more danger than before. Furthermore, Shadow plans involves pulling Sonic down with him in this sacrifice. Remake of my old Sonadow series. Set after Shadow the Hedgehog.
1. Chapter 1

"Goodbye forever, Shadow the hedgehog," Shadow said softly as he turned around and threw the photo of Gerald and Maria behind him. Ready to leave the past behind him, he walked towards the exit of the large circular room. Before he could leave, a bright flash made him cover his eyes, and move back a few steps. When the hedgehog opened his eyes, he saw Black Doom hover in front of him. Surprised to see that his blood relative had survived, Shadow struggled to hide his fear.

"You fool, Shadow. Did you really think you'd killed me? I'm the ultimate being of this universe; I don't die so easily," Black Doom boasted.

Shadow failed to see the fairness in this chain of events; he felt tired and beaten, yet Black Doom looked like he hadn't taken one punch.

"I didn't kill you, but I did destroy your home. So, what can you do now?" Shadow said arrogantly and raised his fists as though he was asking for a fight.

"Take yours."

Shadow narrowed his eyes, since it only took those two words to make him angry.

"What are you referring to, the ARK or Earth?" Shadow seethed.

"Both will do just fine," Black Doom said and held out his hand. Shadow grabbed the sides of his head with the palms of his hands and dug the tips of his fingers into his scalp in a feeble effort to hold off Black Doom's mind control.

"Damn it! I thought I was immune," Shadow complained as he slowly dropped to the floor. The hedgehog went down fighting.

"Your immunity was fuelled by your energy. You're awfully low on that, aren't you?" the alien teased. Shadow was on his hands and knees panting by then; he looked up at his enemy in anger and frustration.

"What will it take to get rid of you?" he cried out in exasperation.

"Are we bargaining now, hedgehog?" Black Doom asked. Shadow shook his head angrily.

"That's not what I meant."

"Because I will leave for a price. It's very apparent that you're unable to protect that beloved planet of yours," Black Doom went on. Shadow's blood began to boil in anger. "It would be unfair to leave those humans open to attack after such a disastrous war, wouldn't it?" Shadow still said nothing, he just sulked on the floor. He tried to be the bigger person and not give into Black Doom's goading, but the fiendish alien knew his son more than anyone. "You could always leave your friends with the burden of defeating me."

Shadow banged his fist on the floor.

"They're not my friends, and I'm not letting them take my responsibility!" Shadow cried out and struggled to stand up again. Shadow growled and grunted like a rabid dog trapped in chains until he could move himself a mere inch, then he dropped again. He continued to breathe through his teeth, determined to get up and fight. It was such an inconvenience this time around for the emeralds to dispatch after using super form. Shadow made a bad call by letting them go so soon, leaving himself in a difficult situation.

"You'd better get up soon. I'm about to make a surprise attack on the humans, and you won't be there to stop me," Black Doom pestered. Shadow grit his teeth and scowled at the alien. "I need to teach you a thing or two about respect and obedience," Black Doom's tone became dire. Shadow felt a wrenching, twisting pain all throughout his body, like all of his muscles were getting pulled at once. The hedgehog grit his teeth harder and tried his hardest to hold back the screams of pain, but he couldn't hold up the hard act for long.

"You're a sick bastard! You're enjoying this; I can tell!" Shadow cried out, his voice breaking in the process. Black Doom let out a small chuckle.

"You're going to learn how to behave appropriately. You must follow every order I give you, otherwise I'll increase the pain by tenfold."

Shadow couldn't even begin to imagine what twice as much pain would feel like, let alone speculate what ten times the pain would feel like. The helpless hedgehog realised that it might be the end of him, so he was left with no choice. Shadow stopped fighting the mind control and flopped onto the floor, the pain stopped a few seconds after.

"I give in… just tell me what you want me to do, and I'll do it," Shadow sighed in exasperation; he made a tactical submission.

Black Doom gave his demand and everything seemed to go silent in Shadow's mind; he could only hear ringing in his ears. The ultimate life form couldn't do anything but agree to it, despite his disgust. It was as simple as that. When Shadow promised to implement his command, Black Doom left to keep his side of the bargain. Shadow banged his fist against the floor to relieve himself of some of his frustration then got up shakily. He stumbled over to the door frame and leant against it to try and gain his composure. What Shadow had agreed to was life changing, and held great risks for Earth.

"Aww man. When is Shadow getting back?" Sonic asked. He was sitting on a rock on the Mystic Ruins, waiting for him to return. Surely, Sonic thought, Shadow wasn't dead. Not yet. The ultimate life form didn't die last time, so he wouldn't have died this time. He may have gotten amnesia again, so Sonic wanted to make sure that Shadow got his memory back before he joined the wrong side.

Tails walked over from his workshop which was within eyeshot from where Sonic was sitting.

"Are you still waiting for Shadow? You do realise that he may not be back for weeks. If he went to the ARK and he lost the emeralds already, then he can't return with Chaos Control," Tails said. "And that's if he planned to return. What if Shadow wants to stay up there?"

"Why would Shadow want to stay up there? All of his friends are down here," Sonic said optimistically. Tails sighed, Sonic saw the best in most people, even people like Shadow who most likely didn't consider the Sonic Heroes as friends. "What can Shadow do up on the ARK anyway? He'll be bored out of his mind. I know I'd be."

"I don't think Shadow is the type to get bored, Sonic," Tails said. "Just don't get your hopes up, please.

"But, I wanted to race him. I think I've become faster since our last one," Sonic said eagerly, then looked to the sky, hoping he'd see Shadow emerge from it in his super form, or a space ship of some kind. He watched and waited all day, but Shadow didn't come how Sonic hoped.


	2. Chapter 2

Several days later, Sonic noticed a sudden spike of Chaos energy in the air whilst running. This was very unusual, since detecting Chaos energy wasn't the hero's speciality, so he figured it must have been something worth checking out. The hedgehog made a U-turn and ran in the opposite direction in hopes of finding out what possessed the energy. It was most likely a person that had picked up several of the Chaos Emeralds, and Sonic wanted to make sure it wasn't someone who would use them for evil, such as Eggman.

To his relief, but also to his confusion, Sonic saw a black figure ahead. It was Shadow, but what did he need the emeralds for, and why so soon after his latest fight? Sonic ran over to relieve himself of all of his worries.

Shadow, who was found in a grassy mesa not so far from the mystic ruins, didn't make a dash for escape when he saw Sonic coming. This was a good sign, since it most likely meant that the dark hedgehog wasn't hiding anything, but Sonic wasn't going to just let it go. After his fight with Shadow in their original meeting, and all of the mischief he got up to while he recovered his memories, Sonic would never trust Shadow one hundred percent.

"Shadow! I see you came back alive and well," Sonic said cheerily as he reached Shadow's side. Shadow didn't respond; he gave his usual silent treatment, he must have had a goal and wanted to talk about his objective and his objective only. "Are you looking for the emeralds?" Sonic asked. Shadow looked at Sonic and gave a slight nod. "What for? We can't be in danger of attack already. You only just defeated Black Doom."

Shadow didn't want to tell Sonic about what had happened between him and Black Doom so he stayed quiet about it and revealed as little information as possible.

"I need them, just in case," Shadow said and tried to leave so he could avoid talking about the subject. This didn't sound very honest to Sonic, and it also revealed a possibility that Shadow wasn't going to use the emeralds for good.

"In case what? In case someone like Eggman tries to the take over the world?" Sonic asked. Shadow was about to answer, but he hesitated and said stayed secretive again. "If you are, that's a good idea, but it wouldn't be a good idea to have them all in one place in case you're attacked or something, why don't you share them with me and the others, then you'll only be responsible for one or two of them."

"No, two isn't enough. I need all of them," Shadow demanded.

Sonic felt like sighing; of course that wasn't going to work. Shadow was too stubborn to agree to something like that, but at least Sonic had tried.

"So, whatever this 'in case' situation is, it's pretty serious, right? If you're worried about Eggman, we can defeat him without the emeralds if we work together," Sonic assured him. Shadow still didn't change his mind, then Sonic realised. "You're not worried about Eggman, are you? You're worried about something worse!"

Shadow put his face in his hands and sighed deeply; Sonic had grasped the situation, and it seemed as though he wouldn't stop asking questions. There was no way Shadow was going to outrun him, so the dark hedgehog took out an emerald, ready to disappear.

"Now way, Shadow! You have to tell me what's going on!" Sonic yelled while grabbing onto him. Shadow stood silently, with a look of frustration on his face. Sonic smirked and chuckled lightly. "Can't go anywhere now."

Shadow smirked, he decided to see that as a challenge and accept it.

"Chaos Control!" Shadow yelled. Sonic held onto Shadow's arm as tightly as he could. The two of them disappeared.

When Sonic realised where they ended up, Shadow was the one smirking. Sonic felt like he could melt all of a sudden, because they were in cavern of a volcano.

"Care to let go now, Sonic?" Shadow asked. "You could easily jump your way out of this volcano in a few seconds."

Sonic looked up to see an easy route out, but still didn't budge. The hero shook his head, refusing to let go.

"Not until you tell me what's going on, Shadow. If something bad's gonna happen, then I wanna know, so we can sort it out together. You could be putting everyone in danger just because you're too stubborn to tell me what's going on."

Shadow hissed in frustration; Sonic basically knew half of the story already, but the dark hedgehog was determined not to let Sonic know the rest. Furthermore, it looked as though Sonic would not let go and leave, and Shadow felt the heat get to him already. His whole body dripped with sweat, and so did Sonic's. It was a case of who would give up first. Shadow's plan had not gone the way he wanted. He expected Sonic to dash to a much more comfortable place within a second, but that didn't happen.

After a few minutes, Shadow started gasping for air, as it became hard to breathe in the sweltering heat. Meanwhile, Sonic looked as though he would faint. None of them would get anything out of this standoff, so Shadow teleported somewhere else.

Sonic felt as though his whole body was hit by a shockwave of frozen air, as his body made a painful transition from a hot to a cold place. It felt as though the sweat on his body froze within a moment, so he couldn't move. Shadow smirked at him, surely this would make Sonic give up and go home, but the hedgehog, despite shivering all over, wouldn't budge.

Realising that they would enter another detrimental standoff, Shadow teleported again to a place that Sonic definitely would not stay.

"Chaos Control!"

Sonic felt his eyes sting slightly as they went from a surrounding filled with dry air and breathable oxygen, to a watery prison. Shadow gave a smirk, as though to say 'checkmate', there was no way Sonic would stick around in a place several feet under water. Shadow nodded his head in the direction of a slope that would lead Sonic out of the water, if he chose to take it. Sonic shook his head and stayed where he was. But, even though Sonic was so stubborn, Shadow felt that he would definitely win this one. There was no way Sonic could survive without breath longer than him!

After a minute and a half, Shadow started to feel quite desperate for oxygen, but there wasn't long to go. Meanwhile, Sonic was frantic and ready to run for air. But, just as the hero was about to escape, a bubble came up from the soaked soil underneath him, and he sucked in all of the air he could. Shadow felt like something snapped inside of him, he was ready to pass out, meanwhile, it seemed as though Sonic was given a second chance. Shadow wanted ask how Sonic got his breath back, but there was no point in trying to talk underwater.

Realising that his efforts would be futile, Shadow gave up and teleported back to where they started.

Shadow took a few moments to recover. He gasped, spluttered and breathed heavily to get his breath back. Once his panic died down and his breathing slowed, he spoke.

"Okay, I'll tell you what you need to know… then you have to leave me be," Shadow said. Sonic's ears perked up, and he let go of Shadow, ready to listen.


	3. Chapter 3

"We can talk while we continue to search for the emeralds, let's go. I hope you can keep up with me," Shadow said and dashed off. Sonic reacted quickly before Shadow escaped without telling Sonic what was going on.

Sonic caught up to Shadow effortlessly. Shadow hissed at Sonic's abilities. It was as if Sonic had gotten faster since they'd last met. It was because Sonic trained day and night by running whenever he had free time, so he always got faster, and would never stop trying to improve. Meanwhile, Shadow was slacking in that skill of speed.

The two of them slowed their running to a light jog, which even for them was incredibly fast, so they could talk.

"The emeralds are that way, but we could slow down to talk about it for while," Sonic suggested. Shadow sighed, and shut his mouth firmly, as though he held back his words with a fight. Sonic went to grab him again, but Shadow dodged easily by sidestepping.

"I'm not just going to tell you everything that easily," Shadow said through his gritted teeth, then sped forward. Sonic caught up effortlessly, which made Shadow curse as he saw the blue hedgehog coming up behind him. "Damn it, Faker!" he exclaimed.

"Is the planet in danger?" Sonic asked urgently. Shadow didn't answer, it seemed he didn't plan on keeping his word. "You lied to me when you said you'd tell me, didn't you?"

"Well done, Faker. I swear, you should become a detective," Shadow said snidely.

"So, is the planet in danger?" Sonic asked.

"I never said I changed my mind about telling you," Shadow said through gritted teeth.

"Well you wouldn't be searching for the emeralds if you didn't need them to fight someone, or defend something, right?" Sonic pressed on, ignoring Shadow's denials.

"You got me," Shadow said monotonously.

"Really?" Sonic asked.

"You work it out," Shadow snapped back at him.

"I can't tell. You sounded like a robot just then. You could be lying. Or... you could be telling the truth and you want me to think you're lying," Sonic said, then gasped. "I _was_ right, wasn't I?"

Shadow didn't react to his words at all.

"But… why? Has someone threatened to attack? Is it another alien?" Sonic asked. Shadow hesitated to answer. "Let me guess, after you defeated Black Doom, your mother in law threatened to kill you in revenge for killing her husband," Sonic joked.

Shadow gritted his teeth and launched his fist at Sonic's face, but Sonic dodged by running to the side.

"Can't you take one thing seriously!?" Shadow snarled. "Of all of the things to joke about, Faker!"

"I'm sorry, Shadow. I should have known you'd be touchy about the subject since you only just found out," Sonic said, hoping to calm Shadow down, but his lack of sympathy only made it worse. Shadow gave Sonic a roundhouse kick to the head while they ran, and Sonic skidded across the floor painfully. The both of them came to a stop.

"If you really need to know what's going on, then I'll tell you," Shadow said as Sonic pushed himself off of the floor. "Black Doom is still alive." Sonic stood up, impatiently waiting for Shadow to continue, but nothing came.

"Well?" Sonic asked, becoming frantic. "You can't just tell me that and leave it there! He's alive!?"

"And he might or might not return," Shadow said vaguely.

"That means he will, right?" Sonic asked.

"You work it out," Shadow said.

"Well he must be if you're collecting the emeralds!" Sonic exclaimed. "When is he coming back?"

"How should I know?" Shadow scoffed. "But _if _he does, I plan to destroy him."

"I'll help you. If you couldn't do it alone last time, you'll obviously need help this time," Sonic said. This made Shadow's blood boil.

"No, Sonic," Shadow said and started to run again. "This is my business."

"Oh, family problems? I respect your privacy," Sonic said with a smirk, then ran as fast as he could ahead so Shadow couldn't hit him again. Shadow skated as hard and as fast as he could to catch up to him. After a few second of this, he got fed up and teleported in front of Sonic. When he got there, he grabbed Sonic by neck and lifted him off the ground. Sonic gulped, realising he would not go without a beating.

Sonic closed his eyes tight, but just as Shadow was about to punch him, he dropped Sonic and turned around.

"The emerald's close by, I can feel it. I'll give you your beating later, Faker," Shadow said and ran ahead. Sonic stumbled as he got up then ran after Shadow, but kept his distance from the furious hedgehog so he didn't incur his unforgiving wrath.

The two hedgehogs crossed zones into Windy Valley, where Shadow stopped in his tracks when he came across a tornado. The hedgehog stood still and turned around to look at Sonic, as though he beckoned for him to come.

"It's in there…" Shadow said and looked up that the tornado that was carrying small stones, twigs, dirt and leaves. "How will we get it from-"

Before Shadow could finish his sentence, Sonic jumped right into the tornado, causing Shadow to watch in shock and awe. Shadow couldn't see him amongst all of the dirt and mess within the small tornado, so he didn't see Sonic until he came out the other end and land on a higher ledge on the other side of it. Sonic turned around and showed Shadow the emerald by holding it out above his head.

"I got it!" Sonic yelled, although Shadow didn't hear him clearly over the sound of the strong gusts of wind, however he guessed that Sonic was just announcing his success, which was right. Shadow frowned and teleported beside Sonic. "Why didn't you ride the tornado up here? It's fun!"

Shadow looked at Sonic irritably.

"I take it you haven't ridden tornado before," Sonic smirked, and stood proudly. "I've tried it plenty of times… can't let obstacles like that hold you back."

"For you information, Faker, I have ridden one before, but it was not enjoyable, and I didn't make a hobby out of it," Shadow said through gritted teeth. "Let's go. We have the emerald… so there's no use in staying here any longer." Shadow snatched the emerald off of Sonic, grabbed the blue hedgehog's bare arm, then teleported elsewhere.

The two hedgehogs arrived in Westopolis, a city hit hard by the recent alien invasion. Sonic looked around him uneasily at the crumbled buildings and deserted landscape.

"There's no one around. It's like everyone's given up on this city," Sonic said, sounding tense. "Why are we here?"

"I had a suspicion that one of the emeralds would be here. The last time I searched for them, the first one was here," Shadow explained. "I was just hoping for an unlikely scenario."

"How many emeralds are left to find?" Sonic asked.

"Only three," Shadow said. "The one you retrieved from the tornado was my fourth one. Strange how that's always the hardest to find…"

"Hey, what do you mean by 'your' fourth chaos emerald? Don't you mean ours? We're working together now," Sonic said, sounding offended.

"Yeah, sure," Shadow scoffed and ran to the exit of the city. He didn't sense any Chaos energy within the area, so he left to search elsewhere. Sonic, as always, followed suit, determined not to lose Shadow; he still had more questions to ask.

"So, Shadow. How did you get Black Doom to leave? If he's still alive, surely he would continue to try and kill you until he died or something. He seemed pretty determined," Sonic said.

"I can't tell you that, Faker," Shadow said, he didn't want to tell Sonic about the deal with Black Doom. "But he will return, and I want to be ready for him this time."

"Which is why you're getting the emeralds," Sonic guessed.

"Yes. I don't know when he'll return. I just need to be ready for anything that happens," Shadow said.

"And until then?" Sonic asked.

"We find those emeralds. Then I'll decide where to go from there," Shadow said then ran ahead at the higher speed until he sensed another emerald.


	4. Chapter 4

The hedgehogs ran for about half an hour without saying anything to each other. It was Sonic, of course, that broke the silence.

"Shadow… could we stop a sec?" Sonic asked nervously.

"_You _can stop," Shadow said. Sonic contemplated stopping himself then catching up to Shadow, but that would be impossible, even at his own speed. "Why do you need to stop anyway? Tired already?" Shadow taunted.

"No way, I could run all day before I got tired. I'm enjoying this, In fact, I never want to stop!" Sonic said confidently.

"Then why did you ask to stop in the first place?" Shadow pried. Sonic sighed.

"It doesn't matter," he said, making it obvious that he was holding something back. Shadow skidded to a halt, now he was the curious one. Sonic stopped also, but his reflex was slow this time, and by the time he skidded and stopped, he was about a fifty meters away from Shadow. Sonic quickly jogged back over to his rival.

"We've stopped, now what is it that you wanted to say or do?" Shadow asked again. Sonic finished his journey over to the dark hedgehog, not saying anything. "Come on! I answered your questions, so answer mine."

"Man, Shadow. You don't have to make a big deal out of it. All I had to do was pee," Sonic said and went over to a nearby bush. Shadow looked at Sonic in disgust and covered his face with the palm of his hand.

"You couldn't have waited… or been a bit more subtle. Do you ever see me doing that?" Shadow complained.

"Sheesh, Shadow. Next thing, you'll be saying it's bad to _breathe_ in your presence. Those royal genetics getting to ya? Since you're the son of the ruler of a whole race and all that," Sonic teased as he hid behind the bush.

"Damn it, Faker. He's never going to let it go," Shadow grumbled under his breath while he clenched his fists by his sides while Sonic finished up and walked back over to him.

"Aww, come on. You know I'm just messing with ya," Sonic said when he noticed Shadow's solemn look. Shadow glared at the annoying blue pest from the corner of his eye. "It's just what friends do!"

Shadow tensed up and looked at Sonic in shock.

"Faker, your insults towards me may somehow be acts of kindness, but whenever I say unkind things to you, they do not mean the same thing. If I'm being harsh, it means I don't like you!" Shadow said angrily.

"Then why are we still running together?" Sonic asked with a smile. Shadow gritted his teeth in anger and frustration, then tried to leave Sonic in the dust, but the blue hedgehog caught up within a few moments. "You never were faster than me; it was always a Chaos Control trick, wasn't it?" Sonic said while running backwards besides Shadow. The dark hedgehog looked at Sonic with wide eyes. "We'll have to race one day, after you've practiced. I guess all that amnesia you went through didn't do you much good. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt… since I remember you being faster."

"Another act of friendship, I guess?" Shadow said bitterly. "Making the ultimate life form feel unworthy to a mortal rodent like you?"

"Hey, who're you callin' rodent, hybrid?" Sonic said and smashed into Shadow by elbowing him in the side. But, what Shadow lacked in speed, he had in strength, and he used it to push Sonic to the ground with enough force for the blue hedgehog to skid several miles.

"Just you wait! I'll be faster than you, and ten times stronger!" Shadow declared at the top of his voice so Sonic could hear from far away. The hero got up and dusted himself down with his hands, then ran back over to Shadow.

"You don't need to be, we're on the same side, so you don't have to worry about defeating me," Sonic assured him. Shadow growled and snapped at Sonic.

"You don't get it, do you!? I don't want to be your friend, or your ally! Not even your acquaintance! I work alone!" Shadow bellowed. "You're only here because I need all of the emeralds, and since you insisted that they were 'our' emeralds, I need you by my side until we can get them all, and I can claim them from after a fair fight."

Shadow finished what he had to say and breathed heavily in fury as he tried to calm down.

"It's strange what comes out when you're angry," Sonic said cunningly. "That's all I needed to know."

Shadow cursed under his breath and turned around to avoid eye contact with his Sonic. The blue one could see Shadow's chest move up and down, so he was still breathing heavily. Seeing this, he realised that Shadow must have still been angry at this point, so Sonic wouldn't try to push him any further. Sonic felt like saying something, but it took him a few moments to find the courage to say it.

"Shadow… this may be the wrong time to say this since you're angry an' all… but, I was really glad to see you earlier," Sonic said. This got Shadow's attention, but he didn't budge or show that he was listening. Sonic continued regardless. "I wasn't sure whether you'd survived that fight. You could have been dead, or lost your memory again. I waited for you to come back, and I'm glad you only took a few days instead of months or years. By then, I'm sure everyone else would have given up and stopped waiting for you, but I wouldn't have."

"Stop with the love speech, Sonic. You're making me retch," Shadow said harshly.

"This isn't a love speech! I'm just sayin', I'm glad to have you back, so we can race and go on adventures together, as friends!" Sonic exclaimed.

"As rivals…" Shadow corrected him.

"Allies?" Sonic tried to bargain.

"Whatever suits me at the time," Shadow said bluntly.

"So, not enemies?" Sonic asked. Shadow didn't deny, so Sonic smiled. Shadow turned around, his anger had ceased, and it didn't look like he was going to be sick from the deep conversation they had. Sonic had a feeling Shadow didn't hate him as much as he let on, and he would just accept Shadow's harsh words as inability to be truthful. As long as Shadow didn't ditch Sonic via Chaos Control, Sonic would assume Shadow didn't mind being around him, and whatever fight they got into, would hopefully turn out to be a friendly match that they would both benefit from.

Shadow ran ahead without saying anything else, then felt another spike in Chaos energy. Sonic didn't feel it, but by Shadow's sudden perk, he guessed that the hedgehog had found something, so he followed in excitement so they could find the second to last emerald.


	5. Chapter 5

Sonic's ears perked up in excitement as he ran looking for the emerald.

"Hey, I see it in the side of that mountain there! I'll race ya'," Sonic exclaimed then ran ahead at full speed. He'd seen a spark of light bounce off the side of the mountain many miles up ahead, so it was most likely the emerald. Shadow was left in the dust when Sonic ran ahead; he tried his best to keep up but it was no use; he really did need to practice. Sonic leapt his way up the mountain, using the little ledges to get higher and higher. Shadow grit his teeth and frustration, then teleported himself to the emerald.

Sonic was about the grab onto the ledge that Shadow stood on. The blue hedgehog didn't expect Shadow to appear their suddenly, and with no room on the ledge, he fell back down, hitting the jagged edges of the mountain the way down. When he landed on a safer ledge of the mountain, he looked up to see Shadow tossing the emerald up and down, looking below at Sonic ominously.

"Oh, it's like that, is it?" Sonic said crossly. "That's not how you race!"

"Sonic, because of me you could have been lethally injured, and all you care about is a race that never happened," Shadow said, sounding baffled. "Besides, I was never going to win, was I? _You_ were unfair, not me," Shadow said solemnly then jumped down flawlessly to Sonic then held out a hand to help the injured hedgehog up. Sonic looked up to Shadow, feeling somewhat awestruck. Sonic expected Shadow to leave him to pick himself up, not help him. "What are you waiting for? Get up," Shadow commanded. Sonic didn't realise he'd been thinking about it for so long, only a few seconds at the most, but Shadow wasn't the most understanding of people. Sonic used Shadow's hand to pull himself up. He brushed himself down and winced slightly.

"I think I bruised myself," Sonic said.

"And? What did you expect from those rocks, a massage?" Shadow scoffed then jumped the rest of the way down. Sonic followed, but a bit slower since his body was no longer in perfect condition. When he reached the bottom of the mountain, he stumbled slightly, showing weakness in front of Shadow. Sonic looked at the dark hedgehog uneasily for a few moments.

"I can't believe you fell for it, Faker. You should have known I was going to take that spot on the mountain," Shadow scolded.

"I guess I thought I could trust you not to screw me over," Sonic said bitterly. "I'll never do that again." The blue one walked ahead of Shadow, wincing in pain and holding his right arm. Shadow caught up and looked at Sonic's arm curiously. Sonic noticed Shadow's gaze and explained. "I grazed it on the way down. It's strange how the harmless wounds hurt so much… at least it wasn't a paper cut, then we'd be in trouble," Sonic joked.

Shadow held back a smile, he found Sonic's joke slightly amusing. But the dark hedgehog didn't want Sonic to think he was good and telling jokes and get arrogant, so Shadow pretended the joke wasn't funny.

"Since when did you get paper cuts, Sonic? Did you fight an origami monster?" Shadow said sarcastically. Sonic gave a chuckle.

"Nah, I was reading a book," the blue hedgehog said bluntly. Shadow looked at Sonic with a malicious smirk.

"So, you can read?" he said, with Fake astonishment. Sonic folded his arms challengingly. "Not only can you read, you also read a book for fun!"

"Yep, how many books have you read during your life, Shadow?" Sonic asked with a smirk.

"None, I've spent all of my like training and fighting," Shadow said. Sonic was about the poke fun of Shadow, he pointed at him, ready to laugh. "I can read, though, Faker. Maria taught me."

"What about that crazy scientist dude, why didn't he teach you?" Sonic asked. Shadow seethed at Sonic's disrespect.

"Don't talk about the professor in that way. Gerald was not a 'crazy scientist dude'. You're just saying that because you saw him at his worst. He had a nervous breakdown because of what GUN did. What happened on the ARK was their fault, not ours," Shadow said harshly.

"So, if GUN hadn't raided the ARK, you wouldn't have turned evil," Sonic asked.

"Evil?" Shadow question, sounding offended. "If you mean vengeful, then yes."

"And, you're always grumpy and never think twice to hurt people like me," Sonic added.

"Hmph, that doesn't make me evil. It's just the way I am," Shadow said. "I'm not afraid to do whatever it takes to reach my goals. If I had to choose between the emeralds and you right now, Sonic, I'm afraid you'd reach your last breath."

"Okay, I get it. You'd probably cut off your own arm or something to get what you want," Sonic said.

"If it was a matter of life and death, Faker, then yes; I would cut off my own arm. I'd rather go without an arm than to lose my life."

Suddenly, Sonic pushed himself into Shadow and grabbed his arm.

"It's a matter of life and death! Would you cut off your arm right now!?" Sonic yelled, there was a look of excitement on his face.

"Stop playing games, Faker!" Shadow yelled. "No, I wouldn't because it's not a matter of life and death; it's a matter of get the hell off of me or suffer the consequences!"

Sonic kept his grip on Shadow's arm.

"Do you really want to go through this again, Faker?" Shadow asked. "Because we're about to go back underwater, and I'll make sure you _don't_ cheat this time." Sonic didn't seem to budge, he just looked at Shadow with an arrogant smirk, which made Shadow's blood boil. He wiped the smug look off of Sonic's face by grabbing his throat. Sonic couldn't breathe, he looked at Shadow pleadingly. "Let go of my arm and I'll let go of your throat."

"You couldn't let me have a bit of fun, could you?" Sonic complained with a raspy voice then let go of Shadow's arm. A few seconds later, Shadow slowly let go of Sonic's throat.

"I'm not here to have fun. I'm here to find the emeralds and nothing more," Shadow said.

"Strange, because I think you've enjoyed talking to me," Sonic said smugly.

"Was there ever a smile on my face, Faker?" Shadow said and looked at Sonic with an expressionless look on his face.

"Yeah, but you're hiding it. I can tell. You always look away, or look down, or just bottle it up so I don't see you smile, but I can tell you want to," Sonic teased with a smile of his own.

Shadow did it again, he looked away. Sonic's smile got wider, and he shifted around Shadow to get in front of him so he could see whether Shadow was smiling or not. He caught a glimpse of a smirk before Shadow turned around again.

"Ha! I knew it! Turns out you're the faker, not me!" Sonic pointed at Shadow accusingly. "You're not as badass as you let on, Shadow," Sonic said arrogantly, and before Shadow could deny it, the blue blur ran off into the distance. Shadow gritted his teeth in frustration and ran after him.

They ran for several hours side by side, saying nothing. Shadow felt ashamed for letting a smile slip in front of Sonic, and Sonic felt smug and satisfied for spotting it. Neither of them spoke until they sensed the last emerald. Shadow noticed Sonic looking side to side all of a sudden.

"You feel it too, don't you? We're getting close the last emerald," Shadow said.

"And they're all re-acting with each other. That's why I can feel it so strongly," Sonic said, feeling uneasy. He had an emerald, Shadow had five and the last one was close by. He knew what was meant to come now. The fight for the emeralds, but he had a feeling that he wouldn't stand a chance against Shadow, unless they were both in their super forms. Sonic had way more experience in his super form than Shadow did, so he would have the advantage.

Shadow stopped, causing Sonic to stop also. Then the dark hedgehog teleported out of site for a few moments, then appeared back in front of Sonic. He was held the last emerald in his hand.

"This is it. Now all I have to do it train, and wait for Black Doom to come," Shadow said.

"Is… that it? No fight, and you're not going to use it for anything bad?" Sonic asked.

"Sonic, I already explained to you what my plan was, I'm not using the emeralds for evil. I also explained to you that there is a difference between being evil and being determined to reach your goal," Shadow said, sounding frustrated. "Keep an eye on me if you want. But you'll only waste your time. Now, hand over your emerald before I get impatient with you."

Sonic stood up straight and confident, then got into a fighting stance.

"If you're looking for a fight, then you'll be sorry you even tried. If you're looking to train with me… I prefer to work alone. I don't want you to hold me back," Shadow said.

"Earlier you said that we'd fight for the emeralds, so we're going to fight," Sonic said, feeling the adrenaline rush through him. He swallowed hard when he saw Shadow get into a similar fighting stance.

"Well, tell me when you've had enough," Shadow said in a chilling tone. Sonic braced himself for what was to come.


	6. Chapter 6

Shadow charged at Sonic with his fists out, thus initiating the fight. Sonic turned to his left so he could narrowly avoid the punches. Seeing that Shadow had gone for close up combat, Sonic also attempted a punch. He aimed left fist for Shadow's face, but Shadow blocked it with his own, and punched Sonic in the gut with his right. Sonic was winded for a few seconds, so leapt back to recover.

Seeing this as an opening, Shadow charged in again with a Chaos spear at hand, but Sonic dodged again and counterattacked with a kick to the back. Shadow coughed out at the sudden impact brought to his upper back and spine. He nearly fell forward but recovered himself by doing a front flip before he hit the floor. During his font flip, he sent the spear at Sonic. His aiming was impeccable, even when upside down and disorientated by a kick in the back. Sonic was hit by the energy right in the stomach, and was thrown back several meters. Shadow landed on his feet firmly; he lent forward another Chaos attack with both hands, while Sonic was air bound, thus hitting the blue hedgehog with an unavoidable attack.

Sonic cried out in pain. None of the attacks pierced his skin, but they did bruise and scorch him. Shadow hadn't resulted to lethal attacks yet. The blue blur hit the dry, dusty ground on his back. He leant his head back and grimaced in pain. Shadow slowly walked over to him while Sonic breathed through the pain and tried to get up to defend himself. It was as though Shadow was teasing him, giving Sonic just enough time to get up, but not enough time to run. Just as Sonic rose to his feet, Shadow was close enough to grab him. Sonic's heart raced as he narrowly missed a downward attack. It was as though Shadow wanted to push Sonic into a crater and bury him permanently.

Shadow made a small dent in the ground, then looked at Sonic ominously as if to say that that could have been his body if he wasn't so quick. But Sonic wouldn't give up, he'd just had a bad start, and they were using hand to hand combat which the hero wasn't used to. He preferred speed based combat. No fancy tricks and back flips, just high speed chases and strong collisions. He would have to initiate that kind of battle if he were to have a chance.

Sonic attempted to run, but Shadow lent forward and grabbed the hero's arm, bringing them to a temporary stalemate. Sonic breathed heavily and audibly, sweat and patches of blood dripped off of his body, matting the dust into his fur.

"Ready to give up?" Shadow asked him. "You can hand over the emerald now, and escape in one piece."

Sonic didn't want to take that offer, he still had another tactic he had to try, and they weren't even in their super forms yet. Sonic shook his head and pulled himself away from Shadow. His escape was only possible because Shadow let it. As soon as Shadow loosened his grip on Sonic, he readied his next attack. Sonic took flight, and ran off as fast as he could.

"Hmph, coward!" Shadow yelled and performed Chaos Control. He appeared right in front of Sonic and kicked him in the stomach. Both of them were thrown back. Sonic was winded once again and Shadow was thrown off his feet by the collision, but he viewed it as a worthy sacrifice. He could take a hit to deal a hit, especially as he was already ahead.

Then came the moment Sonic was waiting for. He jumped to his feet and braced himself, almost as if he was revving up like a vehicle. He and Shadow ran at full power and collided again. Shadow propelled himself with his shoes, but it wasn't enough for Sonic's unbelievable speed. In this case, speed beat power. But Shadow was quick to recover and try again. Yet, that wasn't enough, because Sonic had begun his charge already and planned to disorientate his opponent. Shadow was caught off guard by a push from the right instead of the front.

The dark hedgehog was pushed to the floor. His body skidded across it for several meters, his fur and skin scraped against the rocks and dust. Shadow hissed in pain through gritted teeth and got up, admiring his grazes, they were all across his left arm and shoulder.

"H-how dare you make a mockery of me!" Shadow roared at Sonic, who was standing still, wondering what would happen next. Shadow decided to use the charge again and pander to Sonic's needs, then change to hand on hand combat. Sonic charged up to Shadow also, but did not expect the sudden dodge. Shadow swerved out of the way and propelled himself towards Sonic's back with a jump, and kicked Sonic in the back of the head with a great force. Metal hit skull and Sonic hit the floor half conscious.

The hedgehog felt the back of his head with a shaky hand, then looked at his glove. His blurry vision could see red oozing from the white fabric of his glove. While his eyes were in focus of his hand, Shadow walked up in front of him and grabbed his arm. Sonic squirmed to escape, but he could hardly sense what was happening. Then he felt Shadow's hands feel him all over, he was doing a quick search of his body. Then the emerald was taken from him.

"There's no point in continuing this fight. You're not going to win it anyway. I might as well have this now," Shadow said.

"Shadow… you've gotten better…" Sonic said through his deep breaths.

"Yes, just like you've gotten fast. I may not be able to beat you in races, but that doesn't matter, because losing a race doesn't kill you. However, losing fights…" he said eerily. Sonic tensed up. "You're lucky that this isn't one of those fights. Against someone like Eggman, you're incredible. But, when head to head with someone like me, Faker. You're nothing."

"Then… what does that make you?" Sonic asked.

"The ultimate life form," Shadow said and walked away.

Sonic knew that if he could lay down for a while and let himself gain full consciousness again, he could pick himself up and go home to recover comfortably. But, he couldn't let Shadow walk away like that.

"Shadow, you coward. If you're so ultimate, why don't you fight me in my super form!?" Sonic yelled to him. Shadow felt his blood boil, how could Sonic even dare to call him that? He quickly turned around and looked at Sonic furiously.

"Fine then, Sonic. Show me what you're made of. I'll see how long I can withstand your super form before I have to transform myself," Shadow said.

"Deal! I give you two minutes; I doubt you'll last any longer than that!" Sonic said. Shadow smirked, he thought Sonic's prediction was way off. The dark hedgehog threw the emeralds to him and waited.

Sonic concentrated on the energy of the emeralds, and showing that what he was made of, for the greater good. The emeralds responded and Sonic was engulfed by a bright light of wonder and amazement. Shadow stood in awe, he'd never witnessed it before. When Sonic turned into his super form, Shadow was also transforming, so he'd never seen it. The second time he'd been present during a transformation, was when he had to transform himself to defeat Black Doom, so he couldn't see that either.

Sonic floated in front of Shadow with a smirk on his face. Then he uttered one word.

"Run."


	7. Chapter 7

Shadow took in a sharp breath, then desperately attempted escape. Sonic's speed had increased by tenfold, and also his strength. Shadow didn't stand a chance. Sonic grabbed Shadow's wrist so he couldn't escape, then simply flicked his forehead with a smile. Shadow cried out in pain and attempted to grab his face to soothe it, but Sonic kneed him in the stomach before he let him go. Shadow cried out in agony and dropped to his knees, clutching his beaten stomach. Sonic landed in front of him and watched him wail in pain, then cough up a mouthful of blood onto the floor.

Then he performed Chaos Control to many miles away with what energy he had left.

"Damn you, Sonic… I will last longer than two minutes, then I'll show you…" Shadow spat. But there was a flash of light and he was proved wrong. Sonic was in front of him. Shadow couldn't tell whether Sonic had teleported or flown the distance. He was so fast in the form, it was hard to tell. Shadow teleported again, but Sonic did the same, following him, even teleporting to places before Shadow even arrived. It was as if Sonic could sense where Shadow was going next. His senses were heightened tenfold too.

Shadow tried to teleport again, but he was out of energy, and failed to draw any from the emeralds possessed by Sonic. The dark hedgehog was one his knees, Sonic held his chin, forcing Shadow to look up at him.

"If you give up now, Shadow. I don't blame you… 1 minute was admirable," Sonic said. His words were meant to be in concern, but were taken as a taunt. Shadow grit his teeth in frustration, surely that had been longer than a minute. He tried so hard to escape again… but he was all out of energy.

"Damn it, Sonic…" Shadow rasped and fell forward, into his arms. Sonic caught him and held him there.

"Shadow… don't beat yourself up about it… I'm in my super form, of course you weren't going to beat me," Sonic said, and laid a soft hand on top of his dark quills. Shadow was hurting all over, inside and out. The pain would cease if he transformed as well, but he wanted to prove himself so badly.

"Sonic… one more minute… please," Shadow begged.

"Shadow, I don't want to hurt you anymore. Just transform and we'll fight for real," Sonic pleaded. Shadow shook his head and attempted to run, but Sonic kept his grip on Shadow so he could escape. With one hand, he held Shadow by upper arm, with the other lightly pushed against his stomach, thus pushing into the damage he'd done earlier. Shadow choked and squirmed. "You think you'll last a minute of this?"

Shadow bit his lip and nodded his head. He closed his eyes as tightly as he could, but it didn't stop one of his tears of pain from escaping.

"No, transform," Sonic said, giving him a light punch, hoping that would entice him. Shadow cried out again, then trembled in pain.

"I'm the ultimate life form… I can last…" Shadow rasped, the words hardly left his mouth, he was in so much pain. Sonic cringed, he hated doing this to Shadow. By the time he'd thought to himself about this, a minute was nearly up. He watched Shadow heave heavy breaths of desperation, it was as if he wanted the pain to end, but couldn't bring himself to ask for it to stop.

"It's been a minute," Sonic said. Shadow looked at him in disbelief.

"You held back… why didn't you give it your all?" he said bitterly.

"I didn't need to," Sonic said. This caused Shadow great offense. The dark hedgehog growled in anger and transformed in a flash of light. He became a slightly lighter yellow to Sonic, and his spikes rose up a little more. But, he was still in Sonic's arms, so he decided to change that, and pulled back to break free, but Sonic didn't let go. "Shadow… do we have to do this?"

"Of course!" Shadow snarled. "I need to put you in your place!"

"But… both of our injuries are gone now… couldn't we just call it quits and say we're even?" Sonic asked. Shadow smirked, to him that was a sign of weakness.

"You, submit? If we end this now, then you forfeit and I win," Shadow said smugly.

"No way! I said we call it a draw! Why should you win!?" Sonic asked.

"Because you're the one asking to call it quits," Shadow said. "You're obviously too weak to fight me, so you're attempting to call a draw just so you don't lose."

Sonic frowned, then pushed Shadow forward into the side of a large rock formation. It caused a dent and a few cracks, and Shadow was pushed up against it.

"What are you doing? You could have blasted this whole thing to pieces with my body! Why aren't you trying?" Shadow said angrily. "Why don't you want to hurt me?"

"Because, I feel bad for hurting you earlier. You were helpless. I should have just left with the emeralds and put them away for safe keeping. But, I turned into my super form… and when we're done, the emeralds will be gone again."

Shadow's eyes widened. He forgot about that part.

"So… I have to find them all over again!" the dark hedgehog said in alarm. Shadow kicked out with both feet, which pushed Sonic away several meters. Both of them floated several meters above the ground. "I should put you down for interfering with my plans!"

Sonic smirked.

"Is the Prince of the Black Arms going to send out an order for my execution?" Sonic teased.

Shadow smirked.

"No, I'll carry it out myself," he announced, then created a sphere of Chaos energy ten times larger than his body and aimed it at Sonic. Sonic's eyes widened; Shadow was about to show that he wasn't kidding when he said he would do anything to reach his goal. Even if that meant disposing of a friend, and that friend, was Sonic.


	8. Chapter 8

Of course Sonic wasn't going to let himself get beaten that easily. He wasn't going to die just there and leave all of his friends without a goodbye. He teleported out of the way and the large ball of energy crashed into a rock formation many miles away. Then it occurred to Sonic that it was good that they'd ended up fighting in a lifeless wasteland instead of a forest or even a city. Sonic appeared behind Shadow and grabbed him with both arms, locking him into his possession.

"What are you… doing?" Shadow hissed while he struggled to escape.

"I'm giving you a chance to end this before either of us get seriously hurt," Sonic seriously in Shadow's ear. "From the size of that attack there, I can see that you mean business. Now, I could take that as a death threat and try to kill you in self-defence, or I could take that as one of your temper tantrums and brush it off as a mistake… only if we end this now."

The half-whisper of Sonic's warning sent shivers down Shadow's spine. It was a mixture of the breath and the words that gave him tingles, and he didn't know whether it made him uncomfortable or not. Shadow took it as reaction to the close contact after a lack of being in contact with anyone like that for a long time, and attempted to escape. He felt that in no way should he have enjoyed it… but that didn't change the fact that he did. Sonic's warm embrace… it was comforting. Which led Shadow to think of all of the times he was so harsh towards Sonic, yet the blue hedgehog was still determined to remain as friends and be nice to Shadow.

"Well?" Sonic asked. This snapped Shadow out of his trance.

"Y-yes…" Shadow said, sounding flustered, as though he'd just snapped out of a daydream.

"Yes… to what? You want to fight or you want to drop it," Sonic asked, not impressed.

There was no more aggression in Sonic's voice. Shadow enjoyed the softer tone. – realising that he was getting into another day dream, he brought up his knee and kicked Sonic in the stomach to break free. The blue hedgehog choked in pain then released his grip on Shadow so he could hold his stomach.

"Get off me!" Shadow said, aggressively. He was angry at Sonic for making him feel this way. "The fight ends now. I've decided to let you off with just that. Let it be a warning to you… you don't want to get in my way again."

"What are you going to do about the emeralds?" Sonic asked, there was still strain in his voice as he winced in pain.

"Look for them again… without you this time. If I catch you, or anyone else, looking for those emeralds… you know what will happen," Shadow threatened, then descended to the ground and left his super form. Sonic did the same, then emeralds disbanded and shot off at a range of angles. Shadow quickly set his sights for the direction of one of the emeralds and followed it. Sonic was all alone again.

Sonic wondered what was going on with Shadow while he held him still. For a few moments, it was as though he was having a flashback or something, because he didn't respond for a long time. And then he just responded with 'Yes,' which didn't make any sense. It was as if he'd fallen into a daydream… but… why? Sonic couldn't work it out. There was no way Shadow was enjoying the hug like capture, was there? Sure, they were so close to each other, that he could even smell Shadow's natural body odour, which to Sonic, smelt inviting and almost sweet… which didn't make any sense since they were both sweating from the combat.

Sonic snapped out of his thoughts. If Shadow knew he was thinking of him in that way, he would surely attempt to kill him again. Sonic made his way in the direction that he thought lead to home, so he could relax and think about what happened with a clearer head. Perhaps he could do that after a nap.

Shadow ran, but not as fast as he could, he wanted to conserve his energy. The sun was going down, so he decided it was time to find somewhere to sleep. He wouldn't normally need the energy, but after those fights, he was considerably weaker.

As he lay down in a small cave he found at the edge of the wasteland, his mind drifted to what happened with Sonic again. Specifically, to the way he felt when Sonic was holding him. Shadow shook his head frantically, trying to get the thought out of his head. Why did he feel as if he wanted it to happen again? Why did he want to teleport back there and return the favour? Sonic wasn't even hugging Shadow, yet it felt like it, and Shadow wanted to return it.

"Hmph… I guess Gerald couldn't get rid of some of my natural instincts…" Shadow said as he turned over to his side to sleep, realising that the horrible empty feeling he'd been suffering from for so long, was loneliness. And when he realised it, it became even more unbearable. He wanted to sleep beside Sonic… just to get rid of that feeling, because it felt as though it would eat away at his soul if he didn't. But he couldn't go looking for Sonic now and request for him to sit by him while he slept, that would sound absurd, and feel even more absurd than it sounded.

Perhaps after he found the emeralds, he would look for Rouge again. Perhaps she would be a good companion. _She_ would rid him of this emotional pain and anguish, and more importantly to Shadow, get Sonic off of the dark hedgehog's mind.


	9. Chapter 9

Shadow pulled his quills in frustration.

"Where's that damn fourth chaos emerald?" he complained again. "Every… single… time, it messes with me."

He'd been searching for it for a whole week. This search for the emeralds had not gone as smoothly as the last. For a whole week, he sensed nothing. He wondered if he'd been going around in circles or not… but if he did, they would have had to have been very large circles, because it didn't seem as though he'd come across the same scenery multiple times.

He stopped and sighed, trying to calm himself down.

"I won't be able to sense it if I'm this worked up," he said in a low voice. He closed his eyes and concentrated on sensing the nearest chaos emerald. He sensed nothing for a few minutes, then picked up a signal. He felt it, to his left. So, he took off in that direction at full speed, hoping the feeling of the energy would get stronger. There were still four more emeralds to collect, and Shadow knew that by then he should have come across at least one of them. Therefore, the energy reading he picked up had to be one of them. If it wasn't, then he just might have ended pulling all of his quills out.

Then he reached a seaside area with plenty with a large surface area full of sand, shells and rocks. Shadow cursed to himself as he realised he'd have to search the beach for the emerald. Either that, or wait for it to drift into him from the water, since it might have still been in the ocean. If it weren't for his ability to sense the energy, he would have had no chance of finding it.

"It's not been gone for long… it can't have been buried that much," Shadow figured and began searching.

Several minutes later, he saw a glint a few meters away from him. His face lit up with relief and excitement, he'd finally found what he was looking for. Just as he bent down to grab it, a shocking spike in Chaos energy caused him to jolt upright and stand on guard.

"Someone else must be looking for the emeralds… and they're coming this way," Shadow said through his teeth. Then, a loud crashing sound wove through the air, the wind picked up, and a figure stood in front of him. It was none other than Sonic the Hedgehog.

Shadow gazed at him for a few seconds, his first, subconscious feelings were that he was happy to see him. But, his goal returned to his mind and he brushed those feelings aside. Sonic was searching for the emeralds.

"Chaos, no wonder I couldn't sense any of them. Sonic had them, so they were always on the move…" he said under his breath. "I thought I told you not to get in my way," Shadow said to Sonic, gravely.

"Yeah, I know. But I was bored and I thought I might as well help you," Sonic said casually.

"I didn't want help. Believe it or not, I was looking forward to the satisfaction of knowing that all of the emeralds were mine and I found them all without help. But, here they all are, with half the effort. You're not just giving them to me," Shadow said angrily.

"I wasn't just going to give them to ya' anyway. I wanna have one more fight," Sonic said.

"You know you don't stand a chance against me," Shadow said and folded his arms.

"I still wanna try."

"So, we're fighting for the emeralds again," Shadow said irritably and he rolled his eyes. "Just days after our last one. You know this won't be easy."

"It wouldn't be fun if it were too easy!" Sonic exclaimed and jumped into his fighting position.

Shadow didn't bother to get into his, he just went straight at Sonic, shooting him with several Chaos spears and spherical balls of energy as he leapt towards him. Sonic managed to dodge most of them, but the sudden attack confused him, so when Shadow blasted himself towards the blue hedgehog, he didn't expect it. Sonic plummeted to the ground with Shadow on top of him.

"I'm not playing games this time, Faker!" Shadow yelled and punched Sonic in the face, then he jumped up in the air, several meters and sent another set of spears at Sonic, who was laying down in pain. Sonic was able to do a spin dash last minute to get himself out of the way, and crash into Shadow as he landed on the floor. The dark hedgehog didn't have a chance to dodge; his landing spot was already chosen, and couldn't change it.

The spin attack caused many bruises and a few scrapes. After a few moments, when the dust settled around him, Shadow got up and wiped some blood from his mouth after spitting some to the floor.

"You… asked for it," he hissed, then teleported behind Sonic and wound his arm around Sonic's neck, trapping him in a headlock. "Chaos…"

"N-n-n-n-no!" Sonic cried out.

"BLAST!"

A Chaos energy was discharged from Shadow all around him. A large flash occurred at the same time, Sonic plummeted forward. Again, the both of them were surrounded by dust and sand particles floating in the air. Shadow, regretting the fact that he went overboard, expected to see Sonic without an arm or a leg. He couldn't help it; he didn't hold back when he pride was damaged. His heart rate increased as he watched for Sonic in the cloud of debris. It settled, and Sonic was getting up off the floor in one piece.

And he was golden.

"DAMMIT, Faker!" Shadow roared. "Now I have to search for the emeralds again!" The dark hedgehog stomped his foot on the ground and made fists, he was close to having a tantrum.

"What would you have preferred? For me to die?" Sonic said. "You might as well get into your super form too. Ya' know, since you don't stand a chance against me."

"No, I want to show you my true power. Behold, the Chaos Lance!" he cried out, and held both hands in front of him. A large red arrow shaped bow of energy emerged from them, and shot at Sonic. It was twice as tall and wide as Sonic in size, and engulfed his body in a fiery mess. When Shadow withdrew his hands, he was gobsmacked; Sonic wasn't there. Instead, there was a large dip in the sand where the attack had gone, as if a long vehicles had crashed into it and skidded along.

Shadow felt his throat tighten, had he gone too far? Had he killed Sonic, just like that? The dark hedgehog felt a tear build up in his eye… because if it was true, then he'd lost his only worthy rival, and the first person that had made him feel so warm inside since Maria. He hadn't returned that hug yet… something he didn't plan to do so soon, but hoped to do eventually.

"S-Sonic…" he said solemnly. Suddenly, he felt a sudden twinge of anger, and he lashed out. "Faker! If you're out there! Stop playing games and show yourself!"

"Hehe! Sure!"

Shadow looked up to see Sonic sniggering above him; he was floating in the air. Had he been watching the whole time?

"Wow, Shadow. I actually felt a little warm then," Sonic boasted. "You did a pretty good job."

If Sonic could have heard the sound effects of Shadow rage, then he would have heard a whistling kettle ready to blow. He trembled with fury, then he snapped. Another flash of light occurred and revealed a second hedgehog in his super form. Shadow had also transformed.

"_WARM_!? I'll show you!" Shadow hollered as he flew up to Sonic's level. "How about agonisingly torrid!?"

Sonic only just dodged Shadow's next attack, which was similar to the last one, but ten times bigger. If they were on the ground, they would have caused major damage to their surroundings. Sadly, those surroundings was the home to many creatures that Sonic cared about. He turned around to see a crab side step from the sand to the ocean, and felt guilt.

"Shadow, we need to move this fight somewhere else. I don't want to ruin this beach," Sonic begged. "It's home to many innocent creatures. I don't want to destroy it or hurt them."

Shadow was about to deny, but he saw the desperation in Sonic's eyes. It was as if the hero really cared about the animals. Shadow couldn't help but give off a small smile.

"Fine, Faker. I don't want you to hold back, so we'll move," Shadow agreed. Sonic smiled as the two of them flew off to find a large surface area where they could fight and destroy without disturbing anyone.

Within a few minutes, they found a rocky wasteland, hundreds of miles away from where they'd come from.

"This is perfect. Just like the usual," Sonic said and began to stretch while he was in the air. Shadow scoffed.

"There's no time for that, Faker. I want to defeat you, _now_," Shadow said harshly. He floated up to Sonic's level and held his fists out in front of him. Sonic finished stretching and got into a similar position.

The two of them smirked at each other, as if the fight they'd been waiting for their whole lives had finally arrived. The expressions on their faces almost made it look as if they were glad to see each other.

No warning was given before the fight started. Shadow went straight in by teleporting behind Sonic and trapping him in a headlock.

"Well, Faker? Were you expecting this?" Shadow taunted. Sonic struggled to get free by pulling at Shadow's arm, but it was no use. His eyes filled with a look of horror when he felt Shadow power up behind him. "Chaos…"

"No, Shadow… this battle can't be over before it's even begun," Sonic groaned as he wriggled with all his might to get free. Shadow's body was glowing red. Sonic inhaled a sharp breath as he realised he'd reached his last second, then let his body do whatever it could to escape. He kicked backwards and hit Shadow between the legs with his heel. The dark hedgehog choked out in pain before he could say the rest of his attack command, then he let Sonic go and bent over in agony and breathed heavily.

"To get kicked there by an angry girl: agonising. To be kicked there by an overpowered hedgehog in his super form…" Shadow said while breathing inward, then he clenched his teeth in pain, but managed to force a twisted smile. "I'm impressed… Sonic."

Sonic felt uneasy; it was almost as if Shadow got a kick out of his own pain.

"Mind if I steal your tactic?" Shadow said with a malicious smirk; he was ravenously hungry for revenge. He teleported again, but Sonic saw it coming this time and dodged downwards before Shadow could grab him. Shadow sprayed a large Chaos Attack below him, which scorched Sonic all over. The hedgehog's golden body was steaming and sweating all over, and there were signs that his skin had been burned in several places.

Sonic breathed harder to cope with the pain, then flew upwards with his hands above his head. With one hand, he grabbed Shadow's neck, and the other hand reached up to his ear. Sonic tugged at Shadow ear to subdue him, and held him in place by the throat. Shadow choked and struggled to breathe. He slapped Sonic's hand away from his ear, then grabbed his throat too. Both hedgehogs were locked into a strangling match. It was a case of the first one to give up or pass out. Sonic attempted to kick Shadow in a sensitive area again, but the dark hedgehog met his rival's kick with one of his own. Another smile full of grinding teeth and trembling lips revealed itself from Shadow's muzzle, beginning to show his insanity.

"Nice try, Sonic," Shadow said through his teeth then landed a single uppercut to Sonic's jaw, which sent his body rocketing upwards. Then, he shot a large ball of energy upwards, which hit Sonic in the back and scorched his golden fur. The shockwave from the attack damaged Sonic's gloves and socks; He looked like a scruffy mess.

"Aww man, that's gonna leave a mark," Sonic complained as he was in the air. Then he dropped to the floor, flat on his face. "So much for turning into my super form to become invincible… that doesn't really work when I fight someone else in their super form…" he muttered to himself. "Oh well… at least this is fun."

Sonic pushed himself his feet then rose up to Shadow's level again with an excited smirk on his face. It was his turn.


	10. Chapter 10

Using his speed, Sonic flew circles around Shadow, creating a golden tornado around him. Shadow felt the air leave his lungs, and his body tugged by the force of the wind. He was about to get swept up by Sonic's tornado, and then there was no escaping. Shadow tried his hardest to escape it; he used his will and strength to stay in the same place, but the current was too strong and it dragged him along. Shadow was swung and tossed around the small tornado; it made the ultimate life form feel sick, dizzy, and more importantly disorientated so he was unable to find Sonic and destroy the source of the tornado.

"Never was good at riding tornados, were you, Shadow?" Sonic teased. Shadow growled, but his reaction wasn't heard over the whistling wind. Sonic stopped flying in circles and landed on the ground to watch the tornado die down. When the visible current disappeared, Shadow was left in air spinning out of control. He swayed left, then right a few times before he slowly fell to the ground like a vehicle with a failing engine. He felt helpless. It really was Sonic's turn.

Sonic charged into Shadow, which threw the dark hedgehog dozens of meters away. He landed on the floor, and skidded across it, picking up plenty of dirt and dust in his fur. It would certainly show on his black fur when he left his super form. Sonic charged into him again, but this time from above. Using his flying strength and gravity to fuel his next attack, Sonic smacked right into Shadow after gaining a lot of speed. Sonic elbowed Shadow in the back, and the dark hedgehog screamed in agony as his ribs were crushed.

Then he performed Chaos Control to avoid any further pain. Sonic looked left, right, then up. Shadow was nowhere to be seen, which unnerved him. Shadow might have been setting up a surprise attack. But Shadow wasn't, he was hiding behind a nearby rock formation, wheezing and spluttering in pain. He fell to his hands and knees coughed out a few drops of blood. The hedgehog eyed the green droplets on the floor, finding it hard to believe they'd come from his internal organs. Sonic the Hedgehog… had caused him serious damage.

"That… Faker… did this to me…" he said, almost as though he was refusing to believe it. "This is all because he got faster… I can't believe I let this happen." Shadow slammed his fist on the floor.

"There you are!"

Shadow looked up, a shock of realisation rattled through his body when he saw Sonic arriving. The hedgehog landed in front of him.

"Eww, Shadow. Did I make you sick when I did that? You've got something on your face…" Sonic pointed out.

"Stop taunting me!" Shadow cried out and stood on his feet. "And that's not sick! It's blood!"

"But it's green-"

Shadow snarled in fury, and sent an army of Chaos Spears to the area Sonic was standing. The surrounding area was hidden by a large cloud of dust, and when it settled, Shadow was gone.

"Shadow! I'm sorry I offended you! Let's just continue the fight!" Sonic called out.

"Sure."

Sonic didn't spot Shadow before he felt his attack. A fist dug its way into Sonic's abdomen, and a knee between his legs. All of that was done before Sonic even saw Shadow appearing in front of him. He dropped to the floor, unable to breathe.

"Vengeance…" Shadow said in satisfaction as Sonic rolled on the floor in agony. He raised a fist up, ready to punch Sonic again.

"Ah! I forfeit!" Sonic desperately, then he looked at Shadow with pleading eyes. Shadow's mouth gaped open.

"I win?" he asked. Sonic nodded. "Not good enough! We've hardly struggled!"

"I-It's not worth it! Nothing's at stake! I don't wanna die for nothing," Sonic yelled.

"Sonic, I just went through the same thing and I'm standing. I know it's painful, but you just have to get through it and continue," Shadow said as he looked watched Sonic in disbelief. The hero just scrunched his eyes up in pain and curled up while clutching his stomach. Shadow looked down at him, he felt angry. They'd gotten this far and Sonic wanted to end the fight. This felt like a draw to Shadow, he wanted to win by defeating Sonic in battle, not because his opponent had given up. Winning by default was not an option to Shadow. He looked at Sonic furiously while breathing through his nose and clenching his fists.

"You're pathetic," Shadow said in disgust. "If only I were the ruthless person I was when you first met me. I'd threaten to destroy the planet if you didn't defeat me. Then you'd suddenly feel like fighting again."

"That's the thing, Shadow. You wouldn't do that. So there's nothing to lose," Sonic said. He was lying on his back, looking up at Shadow with half closed eyes. He looked exhausted.

"Yeah, only your pride. You lost, Faker."

"I lost to _you_… that's hardly something to be ashamed of," Sonic said and closed his eyes, continuing to gain his breath back.

Shadow expression went from angry to awestruck. He felt flattered and surprised.

"Is that what you think of me, Sonic?" Shadow said softly then bent down to his knees so he was closer to Sonic.

"Of course, Shadow. You're amazing. I feel like trembling whenever I'm with you. You could kill me in a second if you wanted to," Sonic said sincerely and looked at him.

"I could kill you _this _second… so why aren't you afraid now?" Shadow asked.

"I'm good at hiding things," Sonic said with a weak smile, he closed his eyes and let his head drop again.

"You don't have to be afraid… I'm not going to hurt you anymore," Shadow assured and held Sonic's hand. "That wouldn't be fair. It would be an act of cowardice to take you down now."

Shadow had that feeling again. He felt his cheeks burn up and his chest tighten. He let go of Sonic's hand as if it had burnt him. The dark hedgehog got up and turned his back towards Sonic.

"Hey, where are you going?" Sonic asked weakly and reached his hand out for Shadow's. The ultimate life form turned around to see Sonic leave his super form. "I need you to help me…"

Sonic was back to his blue furred, green eyed self. Shadow liked him that way. He looked into those emerald eyes… such a happy colour… they were full of hope too. Why did Sonic trust him so much? That was the question Shadow asked himself. The blue hedgehog was aware of the fact that Shadow could kill him, yet he trusted him enough to be around him. Furthermore, the blue hedgehog had even sought him out earlier. Why did Sonic go through the effort when he was so afraid?

"You're the one…" Shadow uttered.

"The one?" Sonic questioned. "You're not getting all sentimental on me, are you, Shadow?"

Shadow growled.

"Nothing."

Shadow felt livid with himself. How could he have been so careless and say something like that? It made him sound like a romantic idiot. He didn't even mean it in that way… or at least he hoped he didn't.

"Maria was the only one who trusted me… and she knew I was capable of snapping her body like a twig. She knew I could kill her… even by accident. Yet, she trusted me. And… Sonic… you've just gone and done the same thing."

"Well, I'm flattered, Shadow. That you've compared me to her. I know she meant a lot to you. I guess you can get comfortable with calling me a friend now."

"No!" Shadow snapped. "We're not friends. We're acquaintances… rivals, nothing more!" Shadow felt so stupid for letting himself feel this way. Sonic wasn't fazed by this, he just smirked and let his head drop again; he still looked so helpless. This made Shadow feel warm inside, he wanted to be there for Sonic as he recovered, but that felt wrong to him… he had this deep feeling that he shouldn't show weakness around Sonic. The two of them were rivals… almost enemies, and they were not meant to show weakness to each other. Yet… Sonic wasn't hiding like Shadow had earlier. Another sign of trust, and that Sonic didn't not see the relationship in the same way as Shadow.

Shadow kneeled down again and watched over Sonic.

"You… ready to get up?" Shadow asked him. Sonic nodded and held out his hand, as if asking for help. Shadow gave him that help without hesitation. He helped Sonic to go from lying down to sitting up. The blue hedgehog sat up, then fell forward into Shadow. "T-tired out, Sonic?" Shadow asked, feeling uneasy.

"Y-yeah… sorry…" Sonic grunted, then attempted to push himself up. Shadow put his arms around him to lock him in place.

"No… you don't have to move," Shadow said softly. Sonic wasn't even allowed to move; Shadow's grip proved that to be impossible. Sonic's head rested on Shadow's shoulder, the top of his chest fur tickled his muzzle and made him feel safe. Shadow wanted to make sure Sonic felt safe around him. "I… don't want you to be afraid around me anymore."

"Aww, Shadow. What I said earlier didn't upset you, did it? It was a compliment," Sonic said. "I thought you'd love the idea of someone trembling at your presence."

"That's true, Sonic. But… not you. I don't want you to be scared," Shadow explained. He loosened his grip on Sonic, so the blue hedgehog could lift himself up a little. Sonic pulled himself back and looked at Shadow, but they were still in close contact with each other. Sonic was afraid again, very afraid. Because during those moments, he experienced feelings that Shadow really would kill him for.

Sonic felt safe, just like Shadow wanted him to, but he also felt more than that. He also felt… alive, like energy was coursing through his body; it made his cheeks feel hot. He had to hide those feelings from Shadow otherwise he would surely die right there.

Shadow also wanted brush off his warm feelings, it wasn't right… to enjoy the company of a rival like that. Sonic was there to fight with and nothing more.

But… if that was so, why were their faces getting closer to each other. Neither of them noticed it… it was as if they'd zoned out and were drawn into each other by default, and when they noticed what was happening, it was too late. Their lips met, and both of their eyes widened. There was an awkward moment of intimate contact, and a tense silence. The both of them just looked at each other in horror as their lips touched.

Then, they pushed each other's torso to push each other away. The both of them sat down, looking either way, so they could avoid eye contact. After realising what had just happened, Sonic got up and ran, but Shadow grabbed his wrist before he could run away. The blue hedgehog felt his heart drop into his stomach, he didn't want to go, not like this. His body was pulled back, and swung around to face Shadow. The ultimate life form looked furious. Sonic stood on the spot, paralysed by fear.

"Tell no one," Shadow growled through his teeth. He looked as though he truly hated Sonic in that moment. It would have hurt the blue hedgehog dearly if he wasn't so concerned about his life, which hung in the balance. Shadow then pushed Sonic to the floor.

"Shadow! I won't tell anymore! Don't hurt me!" Sonic cried out, realising that Shadow was still in his super form, so he wouldn't stand a chance himself.

"Good," Shadow said, then embraced Sonic again. Sonic returned the embrace.

"I get it Shadow… you don't want me to be afraid of you," Sonic said, feeling extremely uncomfortable. Shadow still didn't let go. "Shadow-" Sonic was cut off as Shadow began to nuzzle his neck. Sonic shivered in delight as Shadow's nose and cheek run through Sonic's fur and tickled him with his breath. "Sh-Shadow…" Sonic said, feeling all control leave his body. This had to stop… what Shadow was doing was magnetising; it made Sonic do it back. Shadow reacted with a kiss to the neck and they pressed into each other even more. Both of them breathing heavily, and shaking all over.

Sonic's eyes widened as he entered his super form again, their energy becoming one.

That incident of love and passion, turned into a blur to the both of them.


	11. Chapter 11

After Shadow's very intimate encounter with Sonic, he decided to leave the search for the emeralds and pursue another goal first. He'd wanted to catch up with Rouge for a while, and remembered she worked for GUN. When Shadow went to find her near her place or work in Central City, he was approached by the Commander. After a misunderstanding or two, Shadow realised that the Commander wasn't going to try to kill him. Instead, the Commander wanted Shadow to join GUN. Seeing as this was the best chance he had of making a living and getting closer to Rouge, Shadow took it. The Commander was happy to take Shadow on, although suspicious of the hedgehog, despite no longer blaming him for the catastrophe on the ARK.

Shadow arrived for his first day of work, ready for his new start. His past was behind him, and he could work for GUN, regardless of what they'd done in the past. If it wasn't for Black Dooms little visit after their battle, Shadow would have been completely at ease. But, that wasn't the case, so he decided to keep up his training in anticipation for the evil overlord's return. But first, he needed to get hold of Rouge.

"Shadow, your first mission is quite simple," the Commander said to Shadow as he stood in his office. "Retrieve some items from a criminal operation in Holoska. Come back without leaving a trace of your presence, and come back with all the items on this list." The Commander handed an A4 envelope to Shadow. Shadow scanned it what was inside and found a small list of items which included black market goods and data storage units. "These people are dangerous and could pose a threat. They think we're not onto them because their set up is in a remote area, but we have spies. And you, will shut them down. I'm not letting you sign off until you complete this mission, so failure is not an option, understand?"

Shadow nodded, he felt a sense of anticipation. The Commander had described the mission as simple, but it didn't seem like that to Shadow now he heard everything. To think he'd be getting into tense and serious situations almost made him tingle inside, this was what he was made for, and he was fulfilling his purpose. The hedgehog walked over to the door to leave them room. He opened the door, about to step outside before the Commander said one more thing.

"And, Shadow. Remember to keep it discreet. No Chaos Blasts or other loud devastating attacks. I saw you in action during that alien invasion, and that is not the kind of tactic I want you to be using while you work for us, understand?" the Commander said sternly. Shadow put his hand on the frame of the door, taking in the information. He didn't bother to turn back around to face the Commander.

"I can do discreet," he said with a smirk then left.

As he walked down the corridors of GUN HQ, he looked at the contents of the envelope. There was more information on the pieces of paper inside, one of them included a map and the location; another included information about some of the people involved in the criminal activity.

Just as he was about to leave for the mission, he passed Rouge on his way out. Shadow stopped to talk to her, and to his delight, she did too.

"Oh, Shadow. I wondered when I'd bump into you," Rouge said cheerfully.

"Likewise," Shadow said with a nod and a small smile. He folded his arms as he spoke to her.

"I didn't think I'd see you anywhere near here after what happened, but I suppose the Commander is forgiving when he needs to be," Rouge commented.

"It's not him that needed to do the forgiving," Shadow said brashly. "But, there isn't much else I can do. At least now I'm fulfilling my promise and helping people."

"Yeah, instead of destroying GUN's resources like you did during that alien invasion. You caused a lot of damage. But don't worry, we have a lot of cleaning up to do due to the invasion anyway," Rouge said with a smirk, keeping upbeat about the situation. "Anyway, I'd better be off, I have things to do, and I'm sure you're busy too." Shadow felt sad the conversation was over, but understood both of their duties and nodded in agreement. "Hey, how about we meet up after work? I finish at five."

Shadow's ears perked up. This was perfect.

"Sure. I don't know when I finish, I suppose it's whenever I complete today's missions," Shadow said. "And, I'm skilled enough to complete them on time so, I'll meet out outside this building at five."

"Okay, Shadow. And, if you're not here by ten past, I'll assume you got caught up and we'll talk tomorrow if possible," Rouge smiled. "Okay? Bye!" she rushed off down the corridor.

Shadow put his mind back onto his task. He knew where to go and what he was dealing with, so with the one emerald he was able to pick up on his way to Central City, he teleported.

"Chaos Control."

Shadow tensed up when he felt the sudden change in temperature. Freezing wind scraped over his fur and skin, making him shiver. His feet were sinking in the snow below him, making crunching sounds as they crushed the snow beneath them. He was right outside the place he had to be, a warehouse, in the middle of a tundra of vast space. A perfect place to stay hidden.

The dark hedgehog walked over to one of the walls and jumped up to one of the window ledges to look inside. There were huge boxes of cargo, and a few people in the middle of the large room. It looked as if they had briefcases. He looked at his watch and it showed the time.

"3:30pm… I have an hour and a half to do this. I wish the Commander had called me sooner instead of putting me on hold all day," Shadow mumbled to himself. "I should be able to complete this in time but… that might not be enough. I have to complete this in a little time as possible so I can get back; the Commander might keep me behind so I can report everything to him, and Rouge might go home without me."

Shadow nodded to himself, making a mental note of his new goal: complete the mission before 4:30 so he could be back in time to see Rouge. His loneliness was still crushing him inside, so it was very important to him that he spend some time with her to make the feeling go away.

First of all, he had to find a way to get inside without alarming the group of humans standing together. They seems pretty much distracted with what they were discussing, and the objects they were admiring, but Shadow didn't want to take any chances. All of the window were closed, and so were the doors. There was always Chaos Control, but that was a waste of the energy he needed to get back home.

By the time Shadow had thought about his options, scanned the area, and spied on the humans inside, it was already 3:45pm. At least the men inside hadn't left or hidden the objects Shadow needed. The hedgehog decided to take the back entrance. There was a small door, almost covered by the snow that had been blown vertically towards it. Uncovered the entrance, crossed his fingers, and hoped the door didn't creek when it was opened.

All was well, and the door was hidden behind a large crate, so he wasn't seen or heard. Now, Shadow could hear what the men were saying.

"All in favour of Station Square," one of them said. Shadow took a peek at them, and more than half of the men put their hands up. It looked as if there was about 6 in all. They were all wearing many layers, and gloves, scarves, and hats, so theirs faces were hardly seen.

"So, we travel to put these explosives there tomorrow," another one of them said. This caught Shadow's full attention. He looked at the list of items again, and a briefcase of explosives was on there. He figured that they must have been in the closed briefcase they had by them. Also by them, leaning against the crate were some guns. He knew he was fast enough to snatch the case and the guns without them seeing him. He looked at his watch. 3:55pm. Stealth missions took way too long for his liking, but it was in his orders to keep it discreet, so he had to take his time and think strategically about the task.

Unless, he thought to himself, he used Chaos Control to stop time. Then, the men wouldn't see him, and he would get back in time… hopefully.

But, he did have limited energy, so he couldn't use Chaos Control for long. Just long enough to snatch up the items and hide them. Then he would have to deal with the men. He took out his emerald, and stopped time silently, so he didn't get their attention. The men all stood still, nothing at all moved. Shadow walked up to them with the list in his hand. As if he was grocery shopping, he took each item on the list. Some from the floor, some from the men's hands. Then, he put them outside of the warehouse, where the men wouldn't see it. He went back inside, and clicked his finger, and time continued.

"We'll have the government in our control, they'll give us all of the money we ask for!" one man said triumphantly and laughed, the rest of them joined in, then stopped suddenly. "Who else is seeing this?"

"Where the hell did everything go?"

"I was just holding that USB in my hand! That has all the plans on it! Someone must have set us up!"

Shadow chuckled to himself silently, and decided to enjoy their confusion for a while.

"What do we do now!?" another yelled frantically.

"We find out who's playing this stupid prank on us, and kill 'em."

Shadow smirked, as if that was going to happen.

Just then, the door behind Shadow swung open. The wind outside was so strong, and Shadow hadn't closed it properly. The whistling wind and sudden breeze caught the men's attention. They all turned to the corner the door was in, and Shadow tensed up. He ran for the exit.

"Let's get 'em!"

All men charged after Shadow. He jumped up above the door frame and hovered above it with his shoes. One by one, the men came out and he wacked each of them on the head. All six of them were knocked out in a heap. The mission was complete. Shadow looked at his watch. 4:15pm. Enough time to take each unconscious body inside and tie them up with one of the ropes used to tug the crates about. He was able to carry the men inside, one in each hand, two at a time. He left them sitting with their backs to each other, leaning on their other for support, tied up so they couldn't just wake up and continue as usual.

As Shadow finished off, he heard footsteps on the other side of the warehouse. He turned around, and between the crates he could see the outline of another person in the darkness. The mission wasn't over, and he had left a trace of his presence.

Shadow hopped into a fighting stance as the figure showed itself, it was another creature like him. Possibly a polar bear of some kind, largely build body, with a lot of thick white fur. Perfect for the conditions of the surrounding area. The mission wouldn't be as easy he Shadow thought, it wasn't just humans he was dealing with.

"Who are you?" Shadow asked. He didn't recognise this person from the paperwork he was given.

"Your worst nightmare!" the enemy yelled in a deep voice and pushed out his hands. A beam of white and blue hit Shadow in the legs, freezing them to the ground. Then the polar bear charged at Shadow. The hedgehog clicked his finger and performed Chaos Control again. The anthropomorphic bear was less than a meter away from him, stuck on the spot, an aggressive look on his face. Not a very calming sight. Shadow used the extra time he had to pull himself free from the ice. His legs felt numb, and so cold it was almost as if they were burning.

"Damn it!" he yelled, and tugged at his leg with his hands. It cracked and broke. Shadow walked up behind the polar bear and kicked him in the back of the head. Time continued, the bear plummeted to the floor. It looked confused, Shadow smirked triumphantly. Adrenaline rushing through his body, the hedgehog walked over to him and hit him in the side of the neck with his hand, thus knocking him out.

He did a thorough scan of the area, in between all crates and around the building. No one else was there. The mission was complete. Shadow walked to the back door again to pick up the items. They were gone. He felt his stomach drop… what had he done? He's managed to lose everything, and he didn't have long left. He looked at his watch frantically, it was 4:35pm, so he'd failed to beat his personal goal. But he still had time. He ran over to the spot he'd left the items, nearly tripping over something trapped beneath the snow. He brushed some of the newly fallen snow away and found the items… they were there the whole time. Shadow sighed and picked them up.

His ear twitched and he turned around after hearing a very faint sound. The polar bear was there. Shadow had forgotten to tie him up, so he was free. All six men followed, with rifles in hand.

"There he is! Shoot him!" the polar bear yelled. Shadow grit his teeth and ran around the corner of the building. Snow was brushed to either side of him as he skated along. He went to the front of the building and took the larger entrance there. Then, he ran to the back of warehouse again and charged into the men who had hardly moved from the door.

One of them turned around to shoot Shadow after hearing his skates, but Shadow sent a Chaos Spear at the gun, and the shot went to the ceiling. Then, he leapt and went in fists blazing and knocked everyone out.

The polar bear was getting away with all of the items Shadow needed. He chased after him, but lost him in the whirlwind of snow. He was white, and so was the floor, and air around him. Shadow… had failed.

But failure was not an option, so he ran further… using his other senses to track down the bear. He tried to concentrate on all noises other than the wind. He stood still and listened as best as he could. He heard a crunch in the snow and ran in the direction he'd heard it from. It worked, and he caught up the bear, sped up and pushed him to the floor, remembering to hold the bear's hands down so he couldn't use the freezing power again. The bear struggled, which frustrated Shadow, so he knocked him out again.

Shadow looked at his watch. It was 5:00pm. His heart raced. He picked everything up, and performed Chaos Control back to GUN HQ lobby. He looked through the windows on the door and saw Rouge waiting outside. He wanted to go outside to tell her to wait for him, but he didn't know how long he'd be. Surely it wouldn't take more than ten minutes to skate to the Commander's office and back. So, he ran through the corridors and knocked on the Commander's door quickly.

"Come in."

Shadow opened the door and dashed inside.

"Shadow, you didn't have a time limit on this mission. You don't have to rush around like that," the Commander scolded him.

"Oh, right…" Shadow acted, he didn't want the Commander to know he had plans for after work.

"You're going to have to fill out some paperwork, it'll take about ten minutes," the Commander said. He reached into one of the draws on his desk.

"What? Paperwork wasn't in the job description!" Shadow exclaimed, and set all of the items down carelessly.

"Hedgehog! There are explosives in there, or did you forget that!?" the Commander yelled furiously. "Take them to labs downstairs to be de-activated, then come back to fill out the paperwork."

Shadow felt his heart beat quicken. He would never get to Rouge in time. He picked up the briefcase and carried it with him downstairs quickly; his heart race increased. He kept conversation with the people downstairs to a minimum and got back upstairs to complete the paperwork.

"I have to go through this with you so you don't get it wrong," the Commander said. Shadow's hands balled into fists, he became frustrated. He looked at his watch, 5:06pm. "Have somewhere to be, hedgehog?" the Commander sighed.

"No," Shadow lied.

"Good, because nothing is more important than your job right now. Any plans you have, you can forget about them until we're done," the Commander scolded. Shadow felt his heart drop. It was impossible; he'd never get to Rouge on time. He'd failed… miserably.

When Shadow was done, the Commander let him go; the hedgehog was off duty. He rushed to the entrance of the building, Rouge was no-where to be seen. Not even down the path, and Shadow had no idea of which direction she would have gone. He sighed; he'd have to apologise to her in the morning.


	12. Chapter 12

Shadow left work that night without Rouge. He'd failed in his goal to catch her in time so he could at least talk to her. He'd sleep uneasily if he didn't succeed in something, so he decided to put his sights on another goal of his. For most of the day he'd sat around, waiting to be called for a mission. He could have spent that time training or doing something useful. Black Doom could return very soon, and Shadow wasn't ready for him yet, not even close. He still had to think about his strength, and his ability to overcome the mind control. He didn't want to go through that pain Black Doom had put him through on the ARK, not again. Surely he could use the evening to train, now that he wasn't on duty, he didn't have to think about the rules the Commander had imposed upon him. So Shadow set off for a place he could train. It would keep his mind busy… anything to keep it off Sonic.

Shadow found a large wasteland, something similar to the places he'd fought Sonic in previously. There was nothing important there, all he would destroy was rock formations and a few dying plants. The ground was dry and easy to grip on. During his fight with Black Doom, Shadow used his Chaos Spears and Blasts to defeat him. Those managed to destroy his Devil Doom form, but not Black Doom himself. Shadow wasn't entirely sure how it worked; all he knew was that his power was inadequate, and he needed to improve it. He raised his hand and formed a Chaos Spear, sharp and smooth. A lot better than the ones he produced under the pressure of the battle. Shadow figured he had to work on the quality of his energy attacks, and the strength. He was about the throw the spear when his watch began beeping.

Shadow put his arm back to his side, and put the other up to his mouth and pressed a button. His watch was also a communicator, and the fact that only one person could contact him made him feel uneasy. It was definitely them.

"Shadow, I need you to come back into work," the Commander's voice came from the communicator on the hedgehog's wrist. Shadow sighed, just as he'd thought.

"Commander, with all due respect, if you wanted me to do something, I could have done it during the day instead of waiting around," Shadow complained.

"Do you think I'd ask you to come in now if it wasn't urgent?" the Commander said, it sounded as if his patience was running out. "And I didn't need you earlier, but I need you now. So come in, or you'll face the consequences."

"Do I get overtime?" Shadow asked, deciding he could be difficult. He didn't really care about the money. The Commander sighed.

"We'll discuss that later. Just get here as soon as possible. I mean it," the Commander sounded more irritated than before. The communicator went silent.

Shadow grit his teeth in frustration as he realised that he couldn't train. This was his only free time, and it would be used up by another mission. He contemplated quitting there so he could do what he wanted, but it wasn't worth it in the long term. He figured he could always train after the mission, provided he wasn't too tired. Shadow crossed his fingers and hoped for the best; he really wanted to get back in time to train. He set off at a high speed so he could make that happen.

When he got to GUN HQ, it was a lot quieter than the daytime hours when the corridors were bustling with operators and officers running around here and there. It was nothing like that at night, but there were still some employees in the building, since danger doesn't rest for the military to sleep. Shadow marched through the wide corridors until he reached the Commander's office then knocked on the door. There was no answer. Shadow knocked again impatiently, this time louder. Still nothing. Shadow tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge; it was locked. The hedgehog turned his back to the door and folded his arms in a huff.

"So, he thinks it's funny to call me in and not be there when I arrive," Shadow under his breath. "I'd better wait here, he might be doing an errand. And if I'm not here when he gets back, I'll get it."

Shadow leaned against the wall right by the door. Then he felt a twinge of discomfort in his lower abdomen.

"Oh, sweet Chaos… not now…" he hissed under his breath and shifted uneasily. "That'll teach me for ignoring the need earlier…" He couldn't wait around for the Commander for long. He looked at his watch. 5:45pm. He turned his head and looked both directions to see if the Commander was coming. But there wasn't a sign of anyone. He even listened out for footsteps, nothing.

The ultimate life form put his wrist up to his mouth and pressed the button designated to contact the Commander.

"Commander, I came to the office like you asked. Where are you?" Shadow asked.

"I was called to complete an important meeting. Come and see me in meeting room five upstairs," the Commander ordered.

"Why couldn't you have told me that earlier?"

"Don't question. Just come."

End of conversation.

Shadow made a quick march to the nearest staircase and climbed up it. He stopped half way through as his desperate feeling returned.

"Damn it…" Shadow cursed under his breath as he recovered himself and continued. The urgent hedgehog picked up the pace, hoping to find a bathroom on the way. He looked at the directional signs on the wall. There were signs for the bathrooms, and the meetings rooms. He went in that direction and turned the corner. There it was, at the end. But there were several humans walking around, so he had to act as if there was nothing wrong.

The dark hedgehog paced towards the end of the corridor. He passed an open door on the way there. A man from inside shouted to him.

"Shadow!" he yelled. "Excuse me, everyone…"

Shadow turned around; that sounded like the Commander, which meant that the room he just passed must have been meeting room five, and Shadow had passed it like an idiot.

"Shadow!" the Commander called again and came out of the door. Shadow turned around to face the Commander and rubbed the back of his neck. "You missed the room, it's right here," he scolded.

Shadow's facial expression hardened, but he tried to hide the fact that he was angry at the Commander.

"I have the files for your next mission right here," the Commander said and passed an A4 folder to him. "All of the information is in there, I can't talk, I'm holding up a meeting."

"Sure, I'll read it…" Shadow said, then turned back around to head to the bathroom.

"Hedgehog! Where are you going, the exit is that way," the Commander snapped. Shadow stopped on the spot and took in a deep breath to calm himself so he wouldn't smash the Commander to oblivion. The hedgehog made sure he had a relatively neutral look on his face before he turned back around and left without saying a word. "You'd better not be this idle during your missions, Shadow!" the Commander threatened while Shadow turned the corner.

Shadow decided not to answer back, or his anger would have gotten the better of him. He manoeuvred his legs to go as quickly as they could down the stairs and ran for the exit of the building to find a private area.

As he skated through Central City, he found a place to stop and read the information in the envelope. The mission came first, and he needed to know the right direction to travel. To his dismay, the location wasn't within running distance, so he would have to go straight there with Chaos Control. The hedgehog read on. His eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw his objective. It was an assassination mission. The dark hedgehog couldn't help but smirk mischievously. He walked stepped into an empty alleyway and performed Chaos Control. But not before relieving himself so he was more agile for the mission.

Shadow appeared near his co-ordinates deep in the south of the United Federations. The land was barren and chilly. Shadow was glad it wasn't as cold as the place in mission in Holoska. The hedgehog set his sights on the small village where his target was said to be hiding. His lips curled up in excitement, he didn't have to go easy on his target and hold back like he had with the last ones. All it would take was a Chaos Spear to the back, or a very strong whack to the head and they were gone. It was also a human, so it would be easy. Shadow rubbed his hands together and walked into the village. The streets were dimly lit and the houses were much smaller than ones he'd seen in the city. They had one floor each, and looked as though they'd only have two rooms in each. Shadow observed the huge difference in the wealth of the people in the village and city. GUN had a huge building to operate from, and the buildings surrounding it were huge skyscrapers. The skyscrapers were made of concrete and metal, whist the little houses, were more like shacks and built out of splintering wood. He looked below him; the road was made of dirt and dust, which blew in the cold wind.

The first thing that came to Shadow's mind was, 'Did Sonic know about this?' He mentally cursed himself, why was he thinking of the blue hedgehog at the time like this? Maybe it was because these were the helpless type of humans Sonic liked to help. People who couldn't help themselves, because they were too weak and didn't have the resources to. The people in the city had the public services to protect them, but what did these people have? This massive inequality was another reason Shadow had to hate the humans. His hands balled into fists as he watched the people go by in dirty, damaged clothes, unlike the inhabitants of the city who wore high quality suits, dresses and other luxury clothing. If he ever spoke to Sonic again, he would have to tell him about this. The village needed help, and it wasn't Shadow's job to help them, it was Sonic's. The dark hedgehog sighed and looked out for his target. He was easy to spot.

His target was a young man, and he wore the kind of clothes the people in the city wore, but they were damaged and dirty like the people in the villiage. It was possible that he'd fled from the city to the place with a lack of technology and GUN activity. But, somewhere, there was a GUN associate that must have passed on information of his arrival. Which led Shadow to this mission. He'd tried to blend in with the village's population, but failed. His facial features matched the one on the photo in the files. Shadow took a quick look at it to make sure. It matched perfectly, except, he had more facial hair scruffier hair on his head. He'd experienced the life of the village people. But why? Shadow wondered why the man had fled. What had he done to be on GUN's hit list? It didn't say in the file. Shadow narrowed his eyes, trying to figure it out.

The man walked down the street, and Shadow followed the target from a distance. The hedgehog hoped the man would go into an alley of some kind, somewhere Shadow could kill him without being seen. It would be quick and effortless, and then Shadow could get back and train with no problem. The man turned the corner, and Shadow tried to pick up the pace, but a human walked out in front of him. Shadow turned to his left side to see another, then his right side to see another. Shadow tensed up. This situation wasn't threatening, but he knew it wasn't a warm welcome. In no time, he was surrounded by them. All unfriendly looking adult males, some had knives in their hands.

"What is this?" Shadow asked.

"That's a nice wrist watch you have there. Looks like it's worth a lot. What else do you have on you?" one of the men asked.

Shadow looked at the communicator on his wrist. He'd never thought of it as having a value. And, he didn't have anything else in his possession, apart from his emerald.

"Those rings on your wrists look awfully expensive, are they gold?" another man asked, they all came closer.

Shadow's expression hardened. He'd made a bad decision to just waltz into the deprived area while wearing his inhibitor rings. To anyone other than himself, they'd look like jewellery. Shadow didn't answer the questions, he just kept his guard up.

"Hand everything of value over, and you can go unharmed," came a threat from another one of the men. Shadow's ear twitched as he heard a footstep behind him, the human at his rear was right behind him. Shadow bent his legs, then jumped over the men as best as he could. He landed outside the circle.

"Sorry, but I need the things you want from me," Shadow said sharply and ran around the corner. His target was nowhere to be seen in the maze of shacks. "Damn it."

Shadow peeped around every corner, and through every open door he could so he could find his target. He could have been in any building, or gone around any corner. And Shadow lost him because he got ambushed by men who wanted to take his stuff. The hedgehog sighed in exasperation. He wasn't going to complete the task in a moment and return home in time for training. Instead, he would most likely spend the whole night looking for the target.

Several frustrating hours passed, and Shadow saw no sign of his target. It was late at night, so chances are, he'd retired to his bed and Shadow wouldn't be able to find him until the morning. Every other moment, Shadow mentally kicked himself for letting the man get away. One little mistake led to hours of wasted time. To make things worse, he'd been ambushed several times during his search. But, he couldn't attack the humans because he wasn't allowed to draw attention to himself.

Shadow sat down on the side of the path and rested his chin on his hand.

"Chances are, I could be here for days," Shadow grumbled. Then he grit his teeth and cursed himself yet again for losing his target. "Damn it." he hissed again, quietly but furiously. Suddenly, he felt an arm grab him by the shoulder, and a cold sharp piece of metal press against his throat. His head was pulled back, bringing Shadow to make eye contact with his captor.

"Hand over those rings or you die." This one didn't sound as confident as the others. It was if he was out of practice, and afraid of the consequences of his actions.

Shadow's eyes widened. It was his target, the one he was meant to kill. And the hedgehog could have been killed by him that moment.

"Okay… just… give me a chance to take them off," Shadow said seriously. He twisted one of the rings, it made a sonourous thudding sound as it hit the floor. Then the other came off. The man took the knife away from Shadow's throat to pick them up, and Shadow immediately brought a fist to that man's face. The target fell backwards onto the floor.

"Word of advice. Never let your guard down," Shadow said arrogantly as he picked up his rings and put them back on. The man's body twitched slightly, it looked as if he was trying to get back up, but Shadow had knocked him pretty hard. Shadow's mouth curled into a mischievous smile like earlier. Without another word, Shadow walked up behind him, grabbed the target's head with both hands and twisted it, thus snapping his neck. The deed was done.

Shadow checked the man's pulse, just to be sure. Those few moments, waiting for a pulse was tense. Shadow was weary of the fact that he could have been grabbed at any split second during those moments. But, there was no pulse in the man's wrist. Shadow lets the hand drop to the floor, picked up the body and performed Chaos Control.

"Can't leave any trace of the body," he noted to himself as he appeared in his new location. It was on a cliff near to his previous location. He dropped the body, and it fell for miles and miles until it hit the water, never to be seen again.

"Commander, are you still there?" Shadow spoke through his communicator. There was no answer. "He must have gone home…"

Shadow yawned.

"I… don't blame him. It is late. Even I'm tired," the hedgehog said groggily. "Hopefully I can perform one last long range Chaos Control today."

The hedgehog held up the emerald, and disappeared.

He appeared in a cave not far from where he was training. He looked out to the large surface area, perfect for practicing his techniques. It was almost as if it was calling out to him. But Shadow was too tired, so he couldn't do the training he wanted to do. Feeling unfulfilled and miserable, the hedgehog lay down and tried to sleep. Before he fell asleep, Shadow remembered to set an alarm on his wrist communicator. He had to be in work before sunrise the next day.


	13. Chapter 13

Shadow sat alone in one of the empty staff rooms in GUN HQ early the next morning. He felt tired. He hardly got four hours of sleep, and after an intensive mission. The hedgehog yawned and closed his eyes for a few moments. When he opened them, he saw Rouge enter the room. His eye lids fell against his will, but snapped open again when the fact that Rouge had walked in registered in his mind. He sat upright and looked at her.

"Hi, Rouge," he said, sounding rather flustered.

"Hey," Rouge said with a smirk and waved. "You look like you could use some coffee or something."

"Nah. I don't need caffeine to keep me going. I'm the ultim-" Shadow's words were cut off by a yawn.

"Shadow, get yourself a coffee. You don't want to fall asleep on the job," Rouge teased and pointed to the coffee vending machine in the corner of the room.

"Can't. Don't have any change," Shadow said groggily.

"I'll get it for ya, but you owe me," she said and walked over to it.

Shadow shook his head to try and snap him out of his drowsy state.

"I also owe you and apology. I'm sorry I couldn't make it on time yesterday. The Commander held me up after my mission," Shadow said.

"Aww, don't worry. There are plenty opportunities to hang out," Rouge said as she pressed the numbers on the machine and inserted the money. A Styrofoam cup was ejected from the machine, and coffee poured out into it. Shadow tapped his fingers on the arm rest of the chair while the dark fluid slowly dispensed into the cup.

When it was done, Rouge took it over to Shadow, who downed it in the few gulps.

"Wow, Shadow. That was scolding hot," Rouge said and cringed.

"Eh, it hurt a little, but it's fine," Shadow said and dropped the cup on the coffee table in front of the chair.

"So, you free tonight?" Rouge asked as she seated herself on the arm rest of Shadow's chair.

Shadow thought about it for a second. Was he free? Well, as long as he wasn't called away on another mission. But, even if he wasn't, he needed to train. Time was getting on. Missing out one day of training was fine, until it turned into two, and two turned into three. Then, before he knew it, Shadow wouldn't be training for months on end and Black Doom would turn up, and he would be doomed. All of this went through Shadow's mind. But still, he said:

"Yes."

"Oh, good. I am too until I open the club. Well… as long as I'm not held up in a mission like you were yesterday," she winked.

Shadow nodded and stood up. He looked around the room and went over to the water cooler and took several drinks.

"Shadow?" Rouge asked, perplexed by his silence.

"The coffee was too hot after all," Shadow rasped.

Rouge couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh, Shadow. Have you burnt your tongue?" she laughed. Shadow was annoyed by this.

"I burnt my tongue, mouth and throat," Shadow complained.

Rouge gave a mock sigh and walked over to one of the other drink vending machines and got Shadow a bottle of water.

"Here, this one's refrigerated," she said and passed it to him. Shadow opened it up and filled his mouth with the freezing cold water. He looked relieved, but his cheeks were still full of water. "If you can, Shadow. Get yourself an ice cream. That'll soothe it well. And, be careful next time." Rouge walked towards the door. Shadow quickly swallowed his water.

"You have a mission already?" Shadow asked.

"Might do. I need to go and check. We'll do the same as yesterday. Meet at five o'clock. If were not both there by ten past, then we can assume the other was held up, okay?"

Shadow nodded. At that, Rouge left. Shadow sighed at the lack of company. He looked forward to seeing her later. That would cure the horrible sense of loneliness he felt. The hedgehog took another gulp of his drink, his pain was mostly soothed. Then he sat back down in the comfy chair and closed his eyes.

"Perhaps I can take a nap until the caffeine kicks in…" Shadow mumbled and fell asleep.

His mind wandered through his dreams, many things happened at once. His conversation with Rouge played in his head many times, then his mission the day before. The coffee incident, burning his mouth. Not getting to train last night. Everything seemed to float around his head all at once. It was a very uneasy dream where nothing in particular happened, yet everything happened. Then, his mind focused on one thing.

Sonic.

Where did that come from? Nothing had happened recently that was anything to do with that blue hedgehog. Yet his mind went back to him.

Sonic. Shadow felt like he needed to find him. And, tell him something. But what? He knew he had to tell him about the village he'd found the day before, but there was something else. What?

Maybe it was about the intimate incident that happened between them. It was the best time Shadow had ever had in his life, but he felt guilty about it. How had it effected Sonic? Was he alright? Would Shadow ever see him again? How would Shadow ask him about it if he never saw Sonic again? He needed Sonic for his plan. He needed to see him again before he saw Black Doom. Sonic was essential for his plan. He-

Shadow was suddenly pulled from those troubling thoughts and dreams when he was woken up by the Commander's voice on his communicator.

"Shadow, I need to speak to you. Right now!" he yelled. Shadow jolted awake. He put his wrist to his mouth and pressed the button.

"Huh? Uh, I'll be right there," he said groggily. He got up, shook himself awake, took another drink and headed for the Commander's office. "Damn it… maybe there was something in that coffee…" he mumbled as he left, remembering his dream. He looked at his watch. He'd been asleep for two hours. Didn't feel that long to Shadow. The hedgehog felt as though he'd closed his eyes for five minutes.

Shadow walked right into the Commander's office. He looked at Shadow in an angry shock.

"You're supposed to knock before you enter, hedgehog," the Commander scolded. Shadow felt his heart rate increase, he'd done it now. But, he didn't show his feelings, he just kept his emotionless look.

"I forgot," Shadow shrugged and shut the door behind him, purposely leaving out the sorry.

"Sit down," the Commander seethed at Shadow's attitude. Shadow did as he was told. He didn't want to push it. "So, Shadow. Day three and we're here already. I actually had a lot of faith in you, I estimated at least a week."

"What have I done now?" Shadow asked, irritated.

"I take it you didn't get around to completing your task last night," the Commander said. Shadow put his face in his hands.

"Damn it…" he hissed, remembering what he was supposed to do after each mission, but it was way too late.

"Yep, you forgot to write the report," the Commander said. "All you needed to do was come back here, fill out the details for five minutes, and head off home."

"I… forgot…" Shadow hesitated.

"Why would you forget something so important? Did you have something else on your mind?" the Commander asked, accusingly. Shadow didn't answer, he just looked down at his legs. "The only thing that should be on your mind should your job. Nothing else."

Shadow was about to pluck up the courage and tell the Commander about his training plan. But Shadow didn't want the Commander to question him about it, or perhaps scold him even more, so the hedgehog kept quiet. The fact that he wanted to say something showed on his face, though.

"Have something to say, hedgehog?" the Commander asked. Shadow shook his head. The commander reached into one of his filing cabinets and grabbed the report sheet. "Fill this out, bring it back to me, and then get out of my site."

Shadow took the sheet and left. He closed the door behind him and let out a huge breath of relief. He took the sheet to the staff room. It was empty just like in the morning. He filled out all of the information. He contemplated lying about how long it took for him to find the target and how many times he'd gotten himself into trouble, but he decided not to, since lying may have gotten him in even more trouble.

Five minutes later, Shadow brought the sheet back. This time, he knocked and waited for the Commander to call him in. When Shadow walked in, he said nothing. He just put the sheet down on the desk, then walked back to the door and put his door on the handle to open it.

"Wait, Shadow. Sit down," the Commander said and pointed to the seat in front of his desk. Shadow stopped at the door, took his hand off the handle and took a deep breath in and out. Then he went back to the chair and sat down. He felt fed up; all he wanted to do was go back to the staff room and sleep some more until the next mission. If he was lucky, he wouldn't get a mission and he could sleep all day. Shadow glanced the Commander, to see that he was reading the report. The hedgehog got an adrenaline rush, the Commander was about the judge him. And, Shadow thought that chances were, the Commander would rank him down after all of the difficulties during the mission.

A few moments of silence passed and the Commander filed the report away. Shadow held his breath in anticipation.

"Well, hedgehog. I'm glad you showed honesty in your report, you can go now," the Commander said calmly and waved his hand in the direction of the door. Shadow sighed, letting all of the air he'd held while waiting for the result. Then, he left quickly and shut the door behind him quietly. Shadow sighed in relief then went to nap in the staff room.

Shadow curled up sideways on the comfy chair, laying his head on one arm rest, and his feet on the other. It was time to catch up on the sleep he'd lost.

This time, there was no nonsense in his dream before he thought of Sonic. The absolute pleasure the blue hedgehog gave him, and the warm feeling he caused was like nothing else Shadow had ever felt before. He wanted it to happen again, but he knew it couldn't. Shadow could never fall in love with Sonic like that again. It was wrong, because Sonic was his rival and his enemy. Not his lover or his partner. But… if that was so, why did Shadow feel like Sonic should have been his lover? He felt it so strongly. He had to do what he did with Sonic, nevertheless, he enjoyed it. He used Sonic, but didn't feel as if he was using him because the feelings seemed to be mutual. Sonic didn't retaliate, he even returned the favour and asked for more. The both of them did. So, why did Shadow still feel guilty? Because of his intentions, which he couldn't push to the back of his mind and forget. In his dream he relived those moments, every bit of pleasure and bliss. But, the dream was cut off by a sudden feeling of discomfort.

Shadow jolted awake and looked at his watch. It was was waiting for him! Shadow got up and ran to the door. But then remembered what had woken him up. Sweat dripped down his forehead as he remembered the, coffee, the several cups of water and the bottle of water he'd drunk about ten hours previous. He swallowed hard and ran to the entrance of GUN HQ to meet up with Rouge. He was disappointed to find that she wasn't there. But, it wasn't ten past yet, so he had to wait for a few more minutes, which proved rather long and painful for Shadow.

"Ugh… I'm in idiot," Shadow groaned and leaned against the wall. He shifted until he found a comfortable position, even then it was quite unbearable. But there was only a couple of minutes left. What was worse, was that he had to hide his predicament to everyone who walked past. "C-come on, Rouge…" Shadow groaned under his breath. He looked at his watch, 5:09pm. He bit his lip. "Damn it…" he hissed. "I doubt she'll get here in the last minute… but what if she's rushing to get here like I was yesterday. She could be a few minutes late."

So, Shadow decided to stay and extra five minutes, and an extra five turned into ten. At 5:20pm, Shadow looked at his watch and decided Rouge wasn't coming. He was about to turn back inside to find a bathroom, when he heard someone talk on his communicator.

"Shadow, I'm sorry I couldn't quite make it tonight. I'm on my way back now. If you're still around, could you wait ten more minutes," Rouge asked. Shadow pressed the button on his communicator to talk to Rouge, being sure not to press the one for the Commander.

"Sure, Rouge," Shadow said. "I've only just gotten out myself," he lied, he didn't want Rouge to know he'd hung around for her.

"Meet me around the corner from GUN HQ, on Emerald Street," Rouge said. "I'll see you soon."

The conversation ended and Shadow slowly headed for Emerald Street, so he could take up the ten minutes. He was almost there when he remembered his problem again. But it was too late to turn back. He got to Emerald Street around the corner from the GUN building. To his relief, there was a discreet alleyway he could relieve himself like before. He smiled and walked in. By the time he was done, Rouge was arriving. He came out of the alleyway and looked up to see Rouge glide down.

"Hey, Shadow. I'm glad you came," Rouge said. "I wanted to talk to you. I don't think we can hang out tonight. I'm actually in the middle of a mission, on my way to my next location. I was hoping you would transport me there. I'll make it up to you."

Shadow felt like sighing with disappointment, but he remained indifferent on the outside.

"Sure, where is it?" Shadow asked.

"It's in Empire City. I would take me hours to get there, and I only have enough time for the journey back if I want to make it back in time to open up my club," Rouge explained. "Even then, it's cutting it close."

"I can come and pick you up as well," Shadow offered. "I have nothing else to do this evening."

"Oh, thank you so much, Shadow," Rouge said and grabbed his hand softly. "I really do need to repay you."

"I'm sure you will with some form of favour in the future, but don't' worry about it for now. Besides, I have to pay you back for the coffee and the water," Shadow said formally. He got out his emerald. "Chaos Control!"

Later, Shadow was back at his usual training spot, practicing spears like he was the night before. There were no interruptions, and chances are Rouge wouldn't call him back for another thirty minutes. But he felt like he should have been disappointed that he wouldn't spend time with Rouge, but he was relieved. Perhaps he could concentrate on the training he'd missed out on. He had all of the time in the world to become closer friends with Rouge, and only a finite amount of time to train for Black Doom's return.


	14. Chapter 14

The next morning was the same. Lack of sleep and an early morning. Resting in the staff room; wondering if Rouge would come again. Shadow also wondered if every morning would be like this, and days without mission would be a regular occurrence. That would be ideal, since he could train all night and sleep all day. But, what was the point of being hired if he didn't have any missions to do? Shadow figured that this would not be a regular occurrence, and he would suffer for sure after his lack of sleep.

The hedgehog yawned and rested his head on his hand again. He hoped that Rouge would show up to say hello again. She did, and Shadow's ears pricked up when she entered the room.

"Hi," she said in her usual seductive tone and waved as she walked in. "So, the two of us are alone again." She winked.

Shadow pushed himself to sit up in respect for her presence.

"Yes, I don't think many other people use this staff room," Shadow commented. His voice was softer than usual.

"You sound tired, just like yesterday. Did you have trouble sleeping?" Rouge asked.

"No. I just chose not to," Shadow said and shrugged. "I'm regretting it now, though." Shadow broke into a long stretch.

"You don't have anywhere to stay, do you?" Rouge asked. "Perhaps…" she said while walked right up to him and sat on the arm rest. "You can stay with me tonight."

Shadow thought about it.

"We'll see how tonight goes," Shadow said. "Judging by the past two nights, we won't have any luck."

"Oh, I promise you I'll be free today, Shadow," Rouge assured and put her hand on his chin and gently turned his head to face her. "I promise."

"Thanks, Rouge. Well, that's one out of two of us that'll definitely be free," Shadow said as he made eye contact with her. It was uncomfortable.

"Yep. My club doesn't open tonight. Not many people in the area go clubbing on a Thursday night," she explained, still looking at him. There was a small smirk on her muzzle.

"So, you're free tonight as well?" Shadow asked. He looked downwards to stop the eye contact as his heart rate increased. It occurred to him that Rouge would want him over the whole night, even to sleep. So, he would have to get the day's training done during the day.

"Yes, and you're welcome to stay all night," Rouge said. "You can sleep on couch." She broke contact with him.

"Th-thanks," Shadow stuttered then faced forwards, away from Rouge. He was confused. What was all that about? She wasn't suggesting that they do the same thing he did with Sonic, was she? Shadow's mind was torn between taking it as that kind of offer and deciding it was just the way Rouge was. She used that tone of voice and body language most of the time.

"I'll see you tonight, handsome. Let me know if you need to cancel," She said. Shadow shook his head and snapped out of his thoughts. When did Rouge get to the door? She was standing in the door way, he hand on the frame, her head turned back to look at Shadow.

"Yeah, I'll let you know if anything changes," Shadow said, sounding as if he was caught off guard. The bat walked out of the room, turned the corner and moved out of site. Shadow heard her heels click in the hallways. They got quieter and quieter, then he couldn't hear them at all.

Shadow put his hand on his muzzle to realise that it was damp; he'd been sweating. Did Rouge notice that? Shadow wiped the sweat of his face, feeling ashamed of himself. Why had he let his feelings control him like that? The suspicions he had about Rouge were so disrespectful to her. The ultimate life form slapped himself on the cheek to snap the thoughts out of his mind, and punish himself for thinking them. Rouge was a friend, and nothing more. He would not do with her what he did to Sonic.

Shadow was about to drop off to sleep when the Commander walked into the room. Shadow saw him through the slit between his nearly closed eyes. They shot open. Shadow hoped the Commander didn't catch him trying to sleep. What did he possibly want? Shadow hoped the human didn't hope to spend his break with him. Shadow thought that the polite thing to do would be to say hello.

"Hello, Commander. What brings you here?" Shadow asked and looked up at him.

"I was passing by and saw you in here. I wanted to check on you," the Commander said. "What do you do between missions, hedgehog?"

"I actually wanted to talk to you about that," Shadow said and stood up. "Are you free?"

"Of course, follow me to my office," the Commander said. "I wanted to talk to you about something too."

Shadow wondered what it was about. After his telling off the day before, Shadow had a feeling it wasn't something good. They walked through the corridors. Shadow decided to stay behind the Commander. The silence between them felt unpleasant to Shadow. Being in the Commander's presence, in silence or not, was unpleasant.

They reached the office and walked inside. Both of them sat in their expected seats. Shadow felt nervous, he had to convince the Commander to give him something, which wouldn't be easy. But he had a plan, and an idea on how to convince him to agree to it.

"Well, Shadow. You can go first. What was it that you needed to talk to me about?" the Commander asked. He clasped his hands together, looking as if he was ready to listen. An essence of arrogance tainted his expression, making him hard for Shadow trust that he would take the hedgehog's words seriously.

"You asked what I do all day, between missions. Well, I'll be honest: I just sleep," Shadow began. "And that's a really inefficient use of GUN's resources. So, I was wondering if I could do something else instead, that would be beneficial to the both of us."

The Commander looked interested, but his scepticism seemed to increase as the human raised an eye brow and leaned back slightly.

"I wondered if I could use my free time during the day to train," Shadow asked, his eyes lighting up as if he was pleading.

"Train? What for? You're perfectly capable of completing the missions I set for you," the Commander said. "Unless you lied in your reports and struggled more than you said you did."

"No, of course not. But, I could have done better on both of them. And, I'm obviously not in my peak condition. I need to improve all of my skills and become the best I possibly can," Shadow said.

"But, you're already incredibly fast, strong, agile, have quick reactions. Your abilities are already incredible!" the Commander exclaimed.

"But, there's always something out there that has better abilities. What if we get another invasion from an alien species worse than the Black Arms?" Shadow argued. "What if the leader is more powerful than me? I really struggled to defeat Black Doom."

That was a complete understatement. Not only did he struggle, he never defeated the Black Arms leader at all. But he couldn't let the Commander or anyone else know that. Or there could have been disastrous effects, such as mass panic and even worse, damage to his ego. Shadow didn't want anyone to know that he'd failed.

"That's true, Shadow. If we suffered from another invasion, it would be lethal. We've already lost a third of the population," the Commander said. "And, how do you hope to carry out your training?"

"I was hoping you would provide me with a room or some equipment to train. That way I'm still in the base and close by in case you need me for a mission. And… perhaps a few sessions set aside… when I won't be on call for a mission." Shadow become rather nervous at the end of his request.

The Commander's expression was discouraging, he certainly didn't look happy about the idea.

"And, why do you think you deserve such a privilege, Shadow? None of the other workers get a personal training area," the Commander asked. Shadow was flustered. He wasn't sure of what to say.

"Well, I can do more than a whole squadron of your soldiers can. I'm getting paid as little as them and doing more work in return. One soldier doesn't get a personal training room, but all of the soldiers in this building get a gym to share downstairs. I should get one of my own, because I'm as valuable as the whole army."

The Commander looked surprised at Shadow's answer.

"That's rather arrogant," he said accusingly. Shadow felt like gulping, he'd gotten carried away. "But, it shows what you're willing to put into your role. You alone promise to provide the labour several people can. If you keep that promise, you can get your training area."

Shadow gave a smile of relief. But the victory wouldn't last long, as the Commander continued.

"A sound argument. It would work, if I didn't have a counter argument," the Commander said. Shadow felt his spirits drop. "There was something I wanted to talk to you about, and it's quite relevant to this conversation."

Shadow rubbed the back of his neck and thought, what could he have done wrong?

The Commander picked up an envelope on his desk and opened it.

"Since you're not a registered member of society, and have no hope of being one, you're technically the property of GUN," the Commander began.

Shadow's teeth began grinding visibly.

"WHAT?" Shadow snarled.

"Keep your anger under check, Shadow! I said technically. We don't need to keep you here; I could fire you on the spot. So watch yourself," the Commander said and pointed a stern finger at him. Shadow swallowed a lump of rage and let out a deep sigh. He proceeded to listen to what the Commander had to say, but he still shot daggers with his eyes.

"As I was saying. Since you're… a part of this organisation," the Commander chose his words tactically. Shadow would have scoffed at the Commander's attempt to sugar coat the situation, but the hedgehog was already in trouble, so kept his feelings to himself. "We have to take the responsibilities for any mistakes you make. Such as, breaking a law."

"What law have I broken now?" Shadow asked, looking astonished. He sat on the edge of his seat in anticipation, he still had no idea what he'd done wrong.

The Commander took two A4 printed photos out of the envelope and put them down on the desk for Shadow to see. The hedgehog leant over and looked at them. His muzzle went bright red and he felt a wave of embarrassment wash over him. The hedgehog swallowed the best he could through his dry throat and looked at the Commander guiltily.

"Public urination, hedgehog? I thought you were more civilised," the Commander said disappointedly and snatched the photos away. The photos were most likely taken by security cameras. They were of snapshots of the times Shadow relieved himself in the alleyways Tuesday and Wednesday.

"I had… perfectly good reasons," Shadow said. His voice wasn't as confident.

"Couldn't wait?" the Commander scorned.

"I… could… but, they were just before missions. And, I didn't want to jeopardise the missions because of a need," Shadow said and folded his arms.

"You could have found a bathroom, Shadow," the Commander scolded. "We've had to take the fines for this. It'll be coming out of your pay."

Shadow furrowed his brow.

"In my defence, I didn't know it was illegal," Shadow said and folded his arms.

"Even if it wasn't illegal, it's still disgusting," the Commander said.

"And you're going to use it against me so I don't get a training schedule?" Shadow asked. The Commander nodded. "That's not fair! I told you how beneficial it would be to you!"

"But, I don't think you deserve it," the Commander said. "Now leave."

Shadow's mouth gaped open.

"You should've just said before I put in the effort to convince you," Shadow said, biting back his anger. "If you need me, I'll be _sleeping_ in the staff room."

Shadow left and shut the door firmly. He stomped back to the staff room, feeling furious. The Commander had gotten his hopes up for nothing. Shadow had a suspicion the human had done that on purpose just to annoy him. Why had Shadow been so gullible to believe that Commander would give him what he wanted? Shadow kicked himself for it. He walked back into the staff room and sat down on his seat in a huff. His plans were destroyed, what would he do now that he couldn't train? He couldn't even do it during the night because he'd be with Rouge. Shadow felt like even more of a failure.

Later that day, Shadow bumped into the Commander again. The Commander passed by the toilets as Shadow walked out of them.

"Ah, decided to use the bathroom this time, hedgehog?" the Commander asked.

"Just drop it," Shadow said through his gritted teeth, wary of the fact that there were other employees walking around, and they probably heard the Commander's remark. The hedgehog was about to walk away, but the Commander had other ideas.

"Shadow, I want to talk to you again. Meet me in my office in thirty minutes," the Commander said. There was no emotion in the Commander's voice that suggested to Shadow that he had either good or bad news.

Shadow went back to the staff room to wait nervously. He had a horrible feeling that the Commander wanted to talk to him about his anger issues. Shadow was rather sharp towards the Commander on several occasions, and the hedgehog knew that wasn't the way he was supposed to talk to authority. He put his face in his hands and breathed out in frustration as he sat down in his comfy seat yet again. Frustration got the better of him, since he knew he had to try to convince the Commander to give him the training schedule. There had to be another reason he could give the Commander for the training. Why else would GUN need Shadow to get better? Who was better than him other than Black Doom? Shadow didn't need time to think. Immediately Sonic came to mind, and Shadow's teeth began to grind again.

"That Faker. I still struggle to defeat him. In no way is he better than me… but, I'm still not better than him," Shadow said. "And, I'm pretty sure Sonic isn't in GUN's good books."

The hedgehog smirked and put his hands together.

"Perfect."

When the time came, Shadow was in the Commander's office once again. The hedgehog's confidence was back.

"Shadow, I've revaluated the situation," the Commander said. "And, I think I should consider your request for a training schedule."

Shadow's mouth gaped open; he was shocked.

"If," the Commander continued. "You're honest with me about something."

Shadow's nerves began to return. It was never easy for him.

"Who blew up Prison Island?" the Commander asked and clasped his hands together, waiting patiently for an answer. There was a smug look on his face as if he was proud of himself for putting Shadow into a corner.

"The island looks pretty fine to me," Shadow tried to sound as convincing as possible. "Or at least it did when I visited it during the Black Arms invasion. Has something happened to it since?"

The Commander gave a slight chuckle.

"You're not being honest, Shadow," the Commander said. "I'll give you one last chance. Who blew up Prison Island?"

"Eggman," Shadow said, there was some truth in it.

"And…?" the Commander asked and leaned forward slightly. Shadow furrowed his brow and kept quiet. "You won't get punished for it, Shadow. I know you had your reasons. The slate has been wiped clean. I just want you to be honest."

Shadow shook his head and folded his arms.

"Stop being so stubborn, Shadow!" the Commander slammed his hands on the desk. "It was obviously you! You were the one who tried to blow up the planet with the eclipse canon. You needed the emerald to do that. The emeralds weren't in the wreckage when the Islands' infrastructure was destroyed. Furthermore, it happened to happen shortly after you escaped from the island. There are too many coincidences. Rouge also told the President exactly what happened as it happened."

Shadow brought his palm to his face and hissed.

"Damn it… I forgot she was a spy," Shadow under his breath.

"What is wrong with you? All you had to say that it was you and that you've changed!" the Commander yelled. "You're not showing that you can be trusted, or that you deserve the training schedule."

Shadow took in a deep breath; it took a lot of strength for him not to lash out at the Commander.

"It doesn't matter whether I deserve it or not. You need me to train," Shadow said. "Because there's one person you can't quite manage to capture."

The Commander's eyebrow lifted in curiosity. This reply was surely unexpected.

"I need to train so I can defeat Sonic," Shadow said seriously. "Him and I are pretty much equal, but every day he's about to run free and do as he pleases, he gets better at everything he does. Meanwhile, I'm spending my days doing nothing. Before we know it, I'll be at his mercy, and you'll never be able to keep him under control."

The Commander sighed. Now he looked frustrated.

"Fine, hedgehog!" he snapped. "You're right. I'll give you a training schedule. There's a large empty room in the basement that used to hold explosives, so it's sturdy and strong. We removed the explosives for safety during the alien invasion. That's all you're getting for now."

"It's all I need. Thank you, Commander. When can I start? Tomorrow?" Shadow asked, unable hold back his smile.

"Today. You can start today. I'll show you to the room," the Commander said and got up.

Shadow looked at his watch.

"I get off in ten minutes. I can't start training now," Shadow corrected him. The Commander chuckled spitefully.

"You're obviously not as eager as you let on," he said. "You start _now_, or there will be no training."

Shadow felt like pulling his quills out. His plans with Rouge were ruined. But he couldn't ruin a whole future of training for one night.

"Okay, Commander," Shadow said sadly and followed him out of the room. Rouge would understand more than the Commander ever could.


	15. Chapter 15

"Oh, it's alright, Shadow, duty calls. It's my day off tomorrow, so I'll see we can do something then."

That was Rouge's answer when Shadow told her he couldn't spend time with her the night before. He thought about it while he sat in the staff room the next morning. It meant Rouge wouldn't be there to see him that morning, but he could always go and see her during the day. He could always sneak out and go find her.

The hedgehog was called to his next mission, and he was given the details.

"Oh, and Shadow," the Commander said before the hedgehog left his office. "The bathroom is just down the hall if you need it before the mission."

Shadow glared at him.

"You're not going to let that drop, are you?" he snapped and left. He heard the Commander laughing inside of the office. Shadow stormed down the corridor and went outside, deciding to make this mission a quick one.

He was successful in doing that. But, before he left the location his mission was in, he contacted the Commander to try something sneaky.

"Commander, I'm having trouble locating that suspect. I may be a few more hours at this rate," Shadow lied.

"That's fine, hedgehog. Just… don't mess this up," the Commander said. It didn't sound like he cared. There was silence. Shadow smirked. It had worked. He teleported back to Central City, but far from GUN HQ where he would have been caught out for lying. The problem was, he didn't know where Rouge lived. But, he did know that she ran a night club, so perhaps she lived in the same building as the club. Shadow went and searched for all of the night clubs in central city.

Before Shadow came across any night clubs, he passed a blue hedgehog in the street. The both of them stopped as they crossed each other's paths.

"Faker?"

"Shadow?"

They both said each other's name in unison as they turned to look at each other. There was a few steps' distance between them. Everything Shadow wanted to say to Sonic seemed to have fallen out of his head. He couldn't think of anything rational to say, so he just forced words out of his mouth. Any words would do.

"How's… running and stuff going?" Shadow asked awkwardly. Sonic smiled at Shadow's failure and answered.

"Pretty good, I think I've gotten slightly faster," Sonic said arrogantly. "How about you? Did ya find the emeralds again?"

"I gave up on that," Shadow said. "It's useless trying to keep them in my possession. I'll just collect when the next threat appears."

"Yeah, that's exactly what I do, and it works perfectly fine," Sonic said. "Why didn't you think of it before?"

Shadow didn't answer, he just glared at Sonic. The blue hedgehog stepped back a bit, increasing the gap between them. When Sonic moved away, Shadow realised what he'd done and softened his facial expression.

"I'm sorry Faker," he said in a low voice.

"It's alright, Shadow. It's in your nature to be grumpy like that. No offense taken," Sonic said with a thumbs up. Shadow looked annoyed again. "Yep, I rest my case."

"Maybe you're just an irritating person. You haven't seen me when I'm not around you. For all you know, I could be more cheerful than you," Shadow sneered.

"Doubt it." Sonic folded his arms in confidence. Shadow's eye lids dropped in even further irritation.

"And I rest my case, Faker," Shadow said and folded his arms too.

"So, what brings you here?" Sonic asked. "I didn't think you'd come to the big city, I thought you were more of like… a loner that would live in the wilderness like Knuckles."

"I'm actually looking for Rouge," Shadow said bluntly. "Do you have any idea where she lives?"

"Oh yeah, I've passed by her Club a few time. It's in the direction you were headed, down there. Just keep going, and in few blocks you'll be there," Sonic said and pointed in front of him. Shadow turned his head to look behind him and peered down the long straight road.

"Right. Thanks, Faker. That's made my situation a whole lot easier," Shadow said while his head was still turned. He looked back at Sonic, and in that second, his red eyes looked into the hero's green ones. It was no doubt, by accident, but in that moment it felt like it was meant to be. Shadow felt himself swooning, and kicked himself mentally for letting himself feel that way again. Especially after the deed was done; the incident Shadow wanted to forget.

Shadow decided to get the undesirable thoughts out of his mind. He grabbed Sonic's shoulder, pulled him along a few meters, and pushed him into an alleyway. He pushed Sonic against the wall so he couldn't just run.

"Faker, have you thought about me at all?" Shadow asked as he pressed Sonic still and kept the blue one's shoulders against the rough brick wall. Sonic showed signs of discomfort, but didn't try to escape.

"Yeah, Shadow. How could I not think about you?" Sonic said softly. "I take it you've thought about me."

"I have. But not as much as you've thought about me," Shadow said and folded his arms.

"Sure, Shadow. You're the one who asked me about it. Our little, 'brawl' left a big impression on you, didn't it?" Sonic teased.

"S-Sonic. We agreed never to mention it ever again," Shadow whispered urgently.

"You're the one who brought the subject up, not me," Sonic said and put his hands up defensively.

"I asked if you thought about me. You're the one who assumed it was about that," Shadow said harshly.

"Sure, Shadow. You've thought of me as a friend," Sonic said sarcastically. Shadow narrowed his eyes. "If that's the case, then the only type of friend you see me as, is one with benefits."

"Benefits?" Shadow said and raised a brow. "As in, plural of benefit? There was only one time, and there will only ever be one time. We are _never_ ever doing that again."

"I know, but that's how the saying goes, Shadow," Sonic rolled his eyes. When he looked forward again, he noticed that Shadow was looking straight at him. Shadow felt his stomach twist when Sonic returned his gaze. He swallowed through his dry throat and noticed how his hands felt hot. Shadow could smell Sonic's natural scent again. It was so inviting just like the last time. Shadow grabbed Sonic's arm and pulled him further into the alleyway so they couldn't be easily seen by passers-by.

Sonic looked shocked, but didn't object to what was happening. In fact, he encouraged it, because he was the one to push Shadow against the wall this time.

"So, _this_ was your goal," Sonic smirked.

"It wasn't… it just happ-" Shadow was cut off when Sonic's mouth pressed onto his and didn't leave. But the lips weren't enough for Shadow, so he opened his mouth and let Sonic's tongue in. The dark hedgehog wrapped his arm around Sonic and pulled his body closer. Shadow's furry chest tickled Sonic's bare one. The two of them pulled each other in closer and closer, falling down further and further, until Shadow was laying on his back on the floor. Flashbacks of last time came back. Shadow knew it was a bad idea to do it again, especially in the middle of a city, but his judgement was clouded by his arousal. His logical train of thought only kicked in last minute.

"S-sonic…" Shadow groaned.

"Mmm?" Sonic couldn't even form words with his mouth.

"I'll take us somewhere else, with Chaos Control," Shadow said. He opened his eyes to look at the blue hedgehog. He didn't even realise that his eyes were closed in the first place. It was as if his mind had shut down, and they hadn't even gone all the way yet.

"Yeah… please," Sonic said, longingly.

Shadow got out his emerald, he was about to do it. But his communicator went off.

"Shadow! Progress report, now!"

The dark hedgehog almost jumped out of his skin. He pushed Sonic off of him in a frenzy and got up. He tried to regain his composure as best as he could and pressed the button on his wrist communicator.

"About to pursue the suspect," Shadow said as firmly as he could in his fluster.

"Make sure you get the information we need," the Commander said. "It's important."

"Yes, of course," Shadow said. Then he dropped his wrist back down to his side and looked at Sonic who was getting up off the floor, he looked annoyed.

"Am I a suspect!?" Sonic yelled. Shadow's eyes widened.

"No way, Faker. This is a mission I did earlier. I just told the Commander I finished so I could hang out with Rouge instead," Shadow said.

"And, who are you working for? GUN?" Sonic said, folded his arms and looked at Shadow accusingly.

"Y-yes… I felt it was the best option," Shadow said and looked at the floor.

"Darn it, Shadow," Sonic said, sounding unnerved. "You won't tell them I was here, will you?"

"Why, Faker. What's wrong?" Shadow asked. It was a genuine question, he had no idea why Sonic wanted to avoid GUN.

"Well, you know back when we first met, and you were trying to destroy the world?" Sonic asked. Shadow put his hand to his face and cringed.

"Yes…" he said hesitantly.

"Well, GUN knows I was involved. They wanted a statement from me. But… I didn't give the statement and now… they're kind of angry… since I forgot… and they're still looking for me," Sonic said nervously.

"I won't tell them anything," Shadow said. "If something comes up, I'll let you know if I see you around. But I'm not going to come looking for you, though. So, don't count on me 100%."

"Sure, Shadow. Thanks," Sonic said. "It's nothing serious, it's just… I'd rather not waste my time with them when I could be running."

Shadow sighed at Sonic's grin. His way of thinking was seemingly one track minded. He didn't want to do something because he wanted to run instead. That's all Sonic seemed to be about.

"Perhaps you should just take it easy once in the while, Faker," Shadow said.

"Me? When was the last time you took it easy?" Sonic scoffed. Shadow thought about it, his mind wound back more and more, like a tape, through everything he'd ever done. He remembered the last time he'd taken a break from him goals.

"Fifty years ago."

"Ha, so you're not one to tell me to take it easy. Why don't you chill out instead, Shadow?" Sonic said and poked Shadow on the chest. Shadow looked down to where Sonic had poked, then back up at Sonic's face. He bared the teeth on the right side of his mouth at him.

"I'm the ultimate life form. I was made to withstand long periods of time without rest. You, however, were not created. Just consider my advice," Shadow said seriously.

"Whatever, Shadow," Sonic said and brushed his hands over his quills as if he was trying to tidy them up after their intimate moment on the floor. Shadow did the same, but didn't know whether he looked a state or not. He hoped that what had happened didn't look obvious to people who saw how messed up his fur and quills were. Especially since he was meant to see Rouge in a few minutes.

Sonic looked Shadow up and down and he brushed himself off.

"I'll see ya' around, Shadow," Sonic said, he was about to run.

"Wait, Faker!" Shadow said. "What do we do about this? Never speak of it again?"

"Yeah, hopefully it'll actually work this time," Sonic said. "No hard feelings, hey?" Sonic grinned. Shadow forced a small smile back.

"Yeah, Faker… no hard feelings. Bye," Shadow said softly and lifted a hand to wave. Sonic waved back and rushed off. Shadow let out a long sigh and looked on the floor. "Damn it, what's wrong with me?" he said to himself as he walked out of the alleyway and set off in the direction of Club Rouge. He figured that some nice female company would get his mind off what had just happened to him.

Shadow saw the sign above the door when he found the right building. 'Club Rouge.' He walked in, seeing that the door was open. Rouge was at the bar in the empty room. It looked as if she was cleaning it, damp cloth in hand.

"R-Rouge?" Shadow called from the entrance. Rouge's ears perked up and she looked a Shadow. Then she walked over to him.

"Oh, Shadow! You found my club!" Rouge said, she sounded delighted to see him. She reached him and hugged him to welcome him.

"Yes. Sonic pointed me in the right direction," Shadow said.

"Oh, Sonic's here? He'd better stay out of GUN's way. He's wanted for several offenses," Rouge said, concernedly. "Poor guy. He's just an irresponsible, care-free teenager… probably scared of the prospect of being in trouble with the law." He bat walked back over to the bar, finished wiping down the tops and poured a drink.

"Sonic, scared? Nah," Shadow said as he sat down in front of the bar and faced Rouge. "Just, wants to leave his statement to the last minute. He said he'd rather run. Which makes no sense… he could give the statement in less than an hour, or end up wanted for the rest of his life."

"Yep. But, hey. I was like him a few years ago. Then I was caught stealing gems by the government and ended up repaying the debt by working for them. It's why I still run this Club. I'm not paid enough by GUN. 60% of my wages go back to them!" she scoffed. "And that's _on top_ the Tax!"

Shadow put his hand on his chin and thought.

"Do… you think that's happened to my wages too?" Shadow asked. "I haven't really been told how much I'm being paid, yet."

"I wasn't told either. I only realised when my first pay check came," Rouge said.

"And I have to pay off those fines too. Damn, I'm not going to have any money. I could really do with some decent food," Shadow said and rested his chin on the surface of the bar. "I've been living off of the land. Berries and nuts aren't quite as satisfying as a full meal."

"Aww, Shadow. You've been starving this whole time?" Rouge said. "I didn't realise. I'll make you something to eat. What are you hungry for?" Her tone became flirtatious at the last question.

"Anything…" Shadow said, longingly and looked at and returned the eye contact. Shadow was confused when he didn't feel the same thing he felt when he looked into Sonic's eyes.

Maybe it only happened with certain people.

"I'll make you some pancakes," Rouge said. She grabbed the hedgehog's chin and tickled the bottom of it. Shadow couldn't help but smile slightly at the pleasurable contact. "Come upstairs," she said while she walked to the front door. She locked it, then walked back to the bar, past Shadow, then through the door behind it. Shadow jumped off of his stool, walked around the bar, then through the 'Staff Only' doorway Rouge had disappeared into.

That's when Shadow sat in Rouge's apartment while she cooked. The kitchen and living room consisted of one room, there were was only one door, and that was for the bedroom. Shadow assumed the bathroom was hidden away as an en suite. It was a pretty small apartment altogether, but well decorated and welcoming apartment. Shadow enjoyed the smells of Rouge's cooking. As she stood at the cooker, she called Shadow over. He did as he was told.

"Alright, first pancake… test it," Rouge said. There was already a bit on the fork, and she put in into Shadow's mouth. Shadow chewed it slowly. "Well?"

"It's perfect," Shadow said. He would have said he liked it even if he didn't.

"Well, you may not taste perfection ever again," she breathed, teasing him. "Because every single pancake I make is different. I can never keep it consistent," She chuckled.

Shadow shook his head and sighed.

"Why get my hopes up, Rouge?" Shadow said, jokingly. There was a moment of silence. Then Shadow remembered something. "Rouge. You said earlier that Sonic is wanted for several offenses. What are they?"

Rouge thought for a moment, she flipped the pancake on the frying pan a couple of times then answered.

"I can't remember exactly, but, after you defeated the Biolizard, GUN wanted a statement from Sonic about the incident. They also needed statements from his friends, and they complied. However, Sonic, despite being given plenty of messages and chances, never showed, for any of the rescheduled slots. So, he's wanted for wasting GUN's time. He's withholding evidence, so he also has obstruction charges. There's a few speeding problems, and vandalism of GUN property too."

"Why hasn't GUN spoken to me about any of this? They could have asked me for a statement, or charged me with vandalism!" Shadow said and folded his arms. "The Commander's waiting for the right moment, isn't he? He held the destruction of Prison Island against me yesterday, despite having plenty of chances to bring it up beforehand. He's probably got this list, and he's ticking it all off one by one."

"Possibly," Rouge said. She put another pancake on the plate. "But… I'm glad you're with us, Shadow. You give me a good reason to go into work each morning."

"And you, Rouge," Shadow said and put his arm on Rouge's shoulder.

Shadow could smell Rouge's scent. It was sweet. The perfume she wore was strong, but not overwhelming. However, it wasn't as personal and inviting as Sonic's. It didn't give him the desire to press up against her like Sonic's did. It confused Shadow.

"Oh! Next one!" Rouge said and flipped another pancake. The flip went wrong, she lost control, and it landed on Shadow's head. Once he got over the burning sensation, he didn't mind. Rouge leant in close to Shadow and tried to pick it off him, but it ripped and only a bit of it came off. Her face was awfully close to his. "Shame, I think this one was close to perfect," she whispered. Their lips were so close. He didn't feel himself get drawn to Rouge like he did to Sonic, but there was a small urge. The lips were there, they didn't make him uncomfortable; he felt he could've just kissed them.

"Shadow! Where are you!?" the Commander's voice came from his communicator. Shadow wondered if the Commander had taken up a second job as a professional cock blocker. The remainder of the pancake dropped off of his head and onto the floor. Shadow answered him irritably.

"Perusing the suspect!" Shadow yelled.

"Wrong! The tracking chip in your communicator says otherwise. So, if you'd like to end your little coffee break with Rouge, that would be lovely," the Commander said, snidely. Shadow couldn't bring himself to answer. He looked at Rouge, who was leaning against the work top, looking slightly irritated herself. Shadow wondered if she was angry with him, or the Commander. "Well, Shadow?"

"Her place was on the way back," Shadow lied.

"Sure, Shadow. Which is why you've been telling me you're still perusing the suspect. Did you even complete the mission?" the Commander scolded.

"Of course! I completed it in less than thirty minutes. I'll give you all of the info when I get back," Shadow said. "I just… ran into a few other things on the way back."

"On my time. On your _paid_ time. So, I'll be docking all of today's pay from your wages, and taking two of the training sessions from your schedule," the Commander said. Shadow felt sick to the stomach when he sensed a hint of satisfaction in the Commander's voice. It was like the human couldn't wait to punish him. "Now get back in my office _immediately_!"

Shadow looked at Rouge with disappointed eyes and an empty stomach.

"Aww, Shadow. You weren't even on your break?" Rouge asked. "I didn't realised you'd risked getting caught by coming during work hours."

"Yeah… and now I have to work the rest of the day for nothing," Shadow said. "What do you think he'd say if I didn't go back?"

"He'd fire you, and you'd be on the run like Sonic. Shadow, go back. Please," Rouge pleaded.

Shadow was surprised at Rouge's desperation. She certainly didn't want any harm to come to him. He nodded.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Rouge," Shadow said. He gently took her hand and kissed the top of it.

That day certainly left Shadow with a lot of mixed and confusing feelings. He didn't know what he wanted anymore. He had such a connection with Sonic, but he definitely didn't want to pursue that relationship. He had hardly any connection with Rouge, but it seemed she wanted something from him. A part of Shadow's mind told him that Rouge was just a natural seductress and that he should ignore all of those signals, and the other side of him said to go for it. Perhaps it would be best to keep it to playful flirting for the time being. Shadow wasn't the one for relationships and feelings after all. He already felt angry with himself for letting such feelings become one of the main troubles in his life. It was like he was finding himself all over again.


	16. Chapter 16

Over the weekend, Shadow went far from the City to train hard and get his mind off of all of his feelings. He wished they would go away, and he wished he didn't fall for his natural urges. He didn't think he was meant to have those feelings. He was supposed to fight instead. At least he had the whole weekend to sort it out in his mind, and catch up on all of the physical training he'd missed.

But Monday brought him back to the same old chair and the same old staff room. He felt refreshed from doing plenty of exercise, and getting the right amount of rest for once. Shadow had a training session for three hours in the afternoon. He also had one on the Tuesday afternoon. He would have had a session on Wednesday and Thursday but, they were cut down. So, he only had Monday, Tuesday and Friday. All because he thought it was a good idea to lie to the Commander and tell him he was working, when he was definitely not.

It was a shame, because he never got those pancakes in the end. Furthermore, he never got to spend more time with Rouge over the weekend because his mind was pre-occupied with training. Even if he did think to visit her, Shadow probably would have been turned away because Rouge had to open the Club. Shadow was glad to see her when she walked in.

"Hey, handsome. So, how bad was the telling off?" Rouge asked quietly.

"Well, my ears hurt by the end of it," Shadow said. "But a whole weekend's been a gone since then, and it's in the past. I'm not going to dwell over it."

"That's the spirit, Shadow," Rouge said. "Hey, I think I perfected my pancake making technique, wanna come over this evening?"

"Of course," Shadow said. "I had to live off the land again the past few days. So, a proper meal would be nice. I'll make it worth your while."

"Oh, Shadow, just having you in my company makes it worth the while," Rouge said with an inviting smirk. "And if you feel obligated to pay me back in other ways, I'm sure you'll get plenty of opportunities." She winked.

"You know me, Rouge. I will pay you back in some way or another. If you need me to teleport you somewhere again, just say. And if there's anything else I can do-"

Rouge put her finger on Shadow's lip.

"I know, hun," she smiled. "You don't have to worry about it for now. You may be the ultimate life form, but I don't expect that much of you. You don't have to prove yourself."

"Don't I?" Shadow questioned, looking disappointed in himself.

"You're the one who saved us all from Black Doom, you definitely have nothing to prove," Rouge said.

Shadow's mouth straightened out; his facial expression looked grim.

"What's wrong? Was it something I said?" Rouge asked.

Shadow looked at her, feeling guilty. Yes, he'd saved everyone from Black Doom, but only temporarily. And time was running out.

"Aww, Shadow. Does that incident still bother you? Just forget about what he said about your creation. You're more than that," Rouge said and put her hand on her shoulder. Shadow cringed, that wasn't even on his mind and Rouge had reminded him of it. "I know. You can talk about it when you come over tonight."

Shadow didn't answer. He just looked at the other side of the room miserably.

"Okay, talking isn't your thing. I should have realised you wouldn't agree to it. You can eat your heart out then. Pancakes galore. Come on," Rouge enticed.

Shadow sighed and accepted with a nod.

"Good boy," Rouge said, teasingly. Then she stroked Shadow's cheek briefly and left.

Shadow was mesmerised. How he would have loved Rouge to do that again, but without the glove. It gave him a sense of security, that he was loved and cared about. Whether Rouge meant anything romantic by that or not, Shadow enjoyed it. And he wanted it to happen again. When this came to mind, he gave a mental sigh, he really was lonely and desperate. Then his communicator knocked him out of his trance.

"Shadow, you're needed urgently. Come to my office _immediately_," the Commander said firmly and quickly. Shadow heard the urgency and impatience in his voice and guessed that this mission was important, and whatever was going on, was happening NOW. Shadow ran down the corridors to the office in the hurry, letting his excitement get the better of him. He didn't both to knock on the Commander's door, he just barged right in.

"What is it!?" Shadow blurted out.

"You're eager," the Commander scoffed. "There's no time for fancy reports and envelopes. Here's what's going on. Eggman is back, and he's posing a threat to Central City. His offense is too much for our men to handle, but it shouldn't be too much for you, since you're experienced in this kind of combat."

"Yes. I have fought against the doctor and his machines a couple of times before," Shadow confirmed. "All battles were successful."

"And so will this one," the Commander said. Then there was the soft sound of an explosion in the distance. Shadow tensed up. The Commander pointed to the door.

"Go! It shouldn't be hard to find him!" he yelled. Shadow ran without hesitation. He nearly bumped into several people on the way out of the building, then went to top speed.

He reached the source of the explosion to see a collapsed building and a giant robot on top of the rubble. There was no sign of someone controlling it in the cockpit; it looked empty. Shadow figured it was in autopilot and ran in to survey the giant machine and find a weak spot.

"Ah, what a nice surprise, Shadow."

Shadow looked up to see Eggman in his round flying machine. It locked onto the top of the robot.

"It's satisfying to see that it isn't Sonic that fell for the bait this time. It's unexpected, but it'll do for my newest plan," Eggman announced.

"Which is?" Shadow asked and folded his arms.

"You'll find out in due time. When I crush you!" Eggman yelled and drove the robot to stop forward and crush Shadow. For a big, heavy looking thing, it was quite fast. Most likely an improvement from past inventions. Shadow skated himself out the way the large foot and looked up at Eggman angrily. The scientist really meant business this time.

Shadow ran around the robot and surveyed it quickly with his eyes. The robot was about three stories high and round in shape. It was modelled after many of Eggman's other robots, his designs from that time didn't seem to change much. But Shadow wasn't concerned on the aesthetics of the design, he was much more interested in how it worked and how he could get it to collapse. There didn't seem to be a weak spot at the first. It seemed the doctor was actually trying this time.

Of course, Eggman had more than just a squish from the foot up his sleeve. The robot has a laser gun for a hand, and very flexible arms. Shadow was caught off guard and almost scorched to death. He flipped forward out of the way when he heard the shot. The hedgehog landed on his feet with a near stumbled and ran into action. The robot may have been faster than expected, but it certainly wasn't faster than him. More surveying it, and confusing Eggman by whizzing around, Shadow thought he should move the fight on a bit to keep Eggman from destroying anything else in the city.

The damage the robot had done wasn't close to Club Rouge, but it wasn't exactly a few cities away either. Shadow was worried about the damage Eggman could have done to the city, and Rouge's business. Rouge herself was safe at GUN HQ or away on a mission, but her business and livelihood wasn't so safe. Feeling the rage build up inside of him, and the determination to keep all of that safe, Shadow sent the first attack, regardless of whether it would be successful or not. A Chaos Spear to the bottom of the robot as he ran between the legs. It made the whole structure rumble.

Shadow ran out to the front of it, thinking he had it handled, but he was wrong. As he was about to continue causing damage to the outer shell of the robot, a blue blur rushed its way into the area. There was a rush of wind, and Sonic was standing by Shadow all of a sudden.

"Thought you could have party without me, Eggman?" Sonic teased. Shadow ground his teeth and narrowed his eyes. Of all the times for Sonic to show up, this wasn't the best time. Shadow turned his head to look at Sonic, and the blue hedgehog did the same thing. Shadow's cheeks burned up as they made eye contact. That moment seemed like it lasted extremely long, but it couldn't have. Eggman wouldn't have waited around for the hedgehogs to state at each other for forever. He was the one who broke the silence.

"That would have been ideal. I was hoping I'd have one plan that wasn't foiled by you!" Eggman said in frustration.

"You would have been taken down by me anyway!" Shadow called out, feeling ignored.

"Not gonna happen, Egg head. I'll always be there, wherever the plot to takeover," Sonic said to Eggman and pointed at him. Then he ran into action.

Shadow definitely felt ignored. But, he brushed it off and jumped into action. If there was a time for Shadow to prove himself, it would have been then. He was head to head with Sonic. Whoever could defeat Eggman would be shown as the most capable in battle. It seemed like both hedgehogs were doing the same thing; running around the robot looking for weak spots. If they'd worked together, then the mission would have been completed twice as fast, but Shadow's stubborn streak got the better of him, and they were working against each other. Like two people sharing a single workspace to do complete different tasks, they were dodging and cutting each other off.

Shadow was caught off guard while dodging the blue hedgehog, and kicked by the large foot of the robot and hit the wall of the nearest, standing building. This gave Sonic the chance to use the angled leg as a ramp to run off of and hit the cockpit with a homing attack. Shadow growled, Sonic had made the first attack. Shadow decided to step it up and performed Chaos Control to above the robot and hit it as well.

"Aww, come on now, Shadow. You're going to run out of energy if you do it like that!" Sonic called out from the floor. This irritated Shadow, so he sent a couple of chaos spears at Sonic, which hit the floor either side of the blue hedgehog as if to warn him not to annoy. Sonic ignored it and carried on as normal. Gravity kicked in for Shadow, and he slid off of the top of the robot and onto the floor, ready to make his way back up again.

Both hedgehogs seemed to have gotten the same idea at the same time. Both of them ran up the wall of the building on either side of the street and launched themselves towards the cockpit at the top of the robot. But, after each one saw that the other hedgehog was doing the same thing, they both went for each other.

Shadow punched Sonic in the face, and Sonic kicked Shadow in the stomach, both of them were launched backwards upon impact and fell into the large hands of the robot.

"Well, what a nice surprise. Two hedgehogs in the hand," Eggman said. "That's worth world domination!"

Sonic frantically tried to escape the left hand, but the grip was too tight. Shadow watched Sonic with lack of amusement from the right hand.

"How do you like, that, hedgehog?" Eggman asked Sonic from behind the cracked glass of his cockpit.

"I don't think he's enjoying it very much," Shadow answered for him. "And neither am I!"

He broke free with a small blast of Chaos Energy, ran up the arm, leapt, and gave the cockpit a fatal blow with a sphere of Chaos Energy from both of his hands. The impact shot Shadow backwards, and he landed safely on his feet when he hit the concrete floor.

Eggman, however, wasn't so safe. He was completely exposed. But Eggman wasn't done yet, he had one last trick up his sleeve. He detached himself from the robot and flew high above it with his flying machine.

"Watch out, pests, the robot will self-destruct any moment," Eggman called out, then flew off in his small flying machine.

Shadow's eyes widened, he couldn't let parts of the city get destroyed, the Commander would not allow him to get away with it, and Rouge would be disappointed in him for failing. Furthermore, Sonic was still stuck in the hand.

The ultimate life form jumped into action, and sent a strong Chaos Spear at the robot's arm, just like he'd practiced. The spear was larger in size and more intense in power, so it sliced right through the metal. It fell to the ground and the impact damaged the hand. The grip wasn't so tight on Sonic, so he could escape.

"Run! I'll take care of this!" Shadow yelled. Sonic did as he was told and ran to a safe distance to watch Shadow from there. Shadow hoped that with the one emerald he had, he'd be able to pull his plan off. He put his hand against the robot, took I a deep breath and was ready to exhaust himself.

"Chaos….control!" Shadow yelled.

He and the robot were teleported to a desolate area with nothing but rocks and sand, where the damage the explosion created wouldn't be as catastrophic. Shadow skated as fast as he could, but wasn't fast enough to get away from the explosion as it caught him off guard. He was thrown forward, and his back was scorched.

Shadow landed on his knees and hands, so the former were scraped against the rocky, gritty floor. But, he was able to stand. He turned around to look at the damage. There was a small crater around the rubble, smoke rose off of the disfigured metal. He looked to his left, and not so far away he could see the old place he used to train.

"Those humans had better be grateful for what I've done…" Shadow said under his breath, then teleported again.

Appeared in Central City on the same street he' fought Eggman in, to see Sonic with a fretful look on his usually up-beat face.

"Faker… I did it. Everyone is safe," Shadow said, sounding out of breath. Sonic noticed the sudden arrival and ran over to Shadow.

"Shadow!" Sonic called out eagerly. "I thought you might have-" He suddenly stopped talking when he reached Shadow. Shadow gave a soft smile.

"I don't need to do that again, Faker…" He said softly. Sonic put his hands on the ultimate life form's shoulders and smiled.

"Yeah, you won't let yourself do that again. You're here to stay," Sonic said. "Besides, if something like that happened again, we'd need you!"

"Of course, Faker. That's the only reason you want me alive…" Shadow said, letting his eye lids drop with smugness as he brought his own arms up to put over Sonic's shoulders.

Suddenly, Sonic pulled away.

"Anyway! I have somewhere to be!" Sonic said all of a sudden. This startled Shadow, but he managed to hide it. "I said I'd meet Amy half an hour ago," he chuckled. "Aww man, how am I going to explain this?" He motioned to the mess he was in. "Late_ and_ scruffy… oh well, she'll understand. See ya, Shadow!"

Sonic ran off while waving to the dark hedgehog.

"Late for what?" Shadow asked himself under his breath. "A… date?" he swallowed. "That's not like Sonic…"

Shadow shrugged it off. Whatever Sonic was going with his life, it wasn't his business. The ultimate life form decided to leave him to it, and headed back to GUN HQ. Of course, if Shadow had Rouge, Sonic was allowed to have Amy… even if it was an unexpected turn of events. It occurred to Shadow that Sonic wasn't the romantic type, but he sure was passionate in the heat of the moment. But, he doubted Sonic and Amy would be getting up to the same as what he and Sonic had done; Amy was way too young for that.

But it made Shadow think, just how old was Sonic? Rouge had referred to him as a 'care-free teenager', but just how young was he? If he was going out with someone as young as Amy…

Shadow felt his stomach twist, Sonic wasn't as old as Shadow had originally thought he was… yet that passionate event happened… and the outcome. Shadow felt a sense of dread and guilt come over him.

"Oh… Faker…" he groaned with dismay.


	17. Chapter 17

After a night of thinking and wondering, Shadow's suspicion overcame him, and he was unable to stop thinking about what Sonic had left to do with Amy. It seemed as if he was going to go on a date with her, but could Sonic do that so soon after what he'd done with Shadow? Although, Shadow realised that he had been trying with Rouge, and if he could do it, Sonic could too. Perhaps Sonic had gone out with Amy just to move on from the times he and Shadow had together, after all, the blue hedgehog didn't seem too keen on going out with Amy beforehand. But he needed to see the two of them together and observe the situation, otherwise he would have wondered.

Shadow had a feeling that if the two of them were together, they'd be in Station Square, because that's where Amy lived, as far as Shadow had heard. He had the time to go out and do this because he was on call and wasn't given any missions when he arrived. Shadow felt that he could get away with going out during this time because the commander hardly checked up on him and if he was called to the office, Shadow could just use Chaos Control. He had a training session in the afternoon to get back for.

When the coast was clear, Shadow left GUN HQ and headed out for station square. It would take a while, but he didn't want to waste energy by teleporting when he could need it later. He would certainly need the energy if he was called to the commander's office unexpected, it didn't matter than he could move at sonic speed, it would not be fast enough to reach the commander's office in a few minutes from Station Square, which was a considerable distance to the west. It would take him an hour to get there. But the long journey was worth it.

When he got there, he hit the jackpot. Amy was walking down the high street with a bag of shopping. She looked very cheery to Shadow, which probably meant she was happy about being with Sonic. Shadow narrowed his eyes in deep thought, could that really be the case? He couldn't jump to conclusions just yet. He followed her from a distance, he gathered that if he stayed on the other side the road and behind her, Amy wouldn't see him. This proved to be a problem whenever she turned a corner or got lost in a crowd, but Shadow always managed to find her again. Until she disappeared into a building, which was most likely her home.

Shadow ran up to the building quickly and studied it as he scanned the front of it with his eyes. There was about five floors, so he guessed it was a building full of apartments. Shadow contemplated running inside after Amy, but realised that it wouldn't achieve anything because the ultimate life form didn't want anyone to know he was there. Besides, he doubted Sonic would be inside, but the hero could have showed up at any time. So, Shadow walked into the alley-way at the side of Amy's building and hid in order to look out for Sonic.

Nothing happened for several hours, and Shadow considered leaving due to boredom, but didn't want to give up after all of that time. He didn't want the whole morning to go to waste, so he stayed, sighing impatiently in the process. Suddenly, he heard someone ring a door bell and Amy's voice come from the speaker at the door.

"Who is it?" she called cheerfully.

"It's me, Sonic," came the voice of said person. Shadow tensed up. He'd hit the jackpot. All he had to do was see them together, perhaps wait for them to come out together once Sonic had gone in.

"Wait a few minutes, I'll be right down," Amy said excitedly, her voice crackled slightly through the speaker. Shadow held back a small cheer of triumph, he wouldn't have to wait long to see them together, then he would know for sure what was going on. Although, the fact that Sonic was even going to visit Amy revealed a possible answer.

Not long after, Amy came out of the door and hugged Sonic tightly. Shadow watched them closely with his head peeping from behind wall of the building as he hid in the alleyway. Suddenly, his communicator beeped. Shadow covered the speaker as a female voice came out of it. Shadow ran far into the alley, hoping Sonic and Amy hadn't heard. The ultimate life form was screwed if Sonic found out he was stalking him. Shadow's heart rate increased as he turned the communicator off and tip toed out of the alleyway. He expected to see the both of them there, looking at him sternly. But, when he peaked his head around the corner, he saw Sonic and Amy walking down the street.

They were holding hands.

Shadow gave a sigh of disappointment, it was official, Sonic and Amy were together. Suddenly, he kicked himself in the leg and growled under his breath.

"I shouldn't feel this way about it. Faker's moved on, just like we planned. I should be happy that incident will never happen again," Shadow said to himself through his gritted teeth. Then his eyes widened in shock, and he turned his communicator back on then pressed the button on the side. "Rouge?"

There was a pause, so Shadow felt a twinge of disappointment and guilt. He's ignored her, and now she wasn't replying.

"Shadow? What happened? Are you okay?" Rouge replied.

Shadow snapped out of his thoughts and spoke back.

"Yes, I was just in the middle of a stealth mission and forgot to put this thing on silent. Don't worry, you didn't blow my cover," Shadow explained.

"Oh, stealth mission? What has the commander put you up to this morning?" Rouge asked playfully.

"Secret."

"Oh really? Must be very important then. You'd better get on," she teased. Shadow cringed, had she seen through the lie and suspected something. "Oh, but before you go, I wanted to ask you if you're free after work today."

Shadow thought about it for a moment, baffled that Rouge what want to see him again. It worked well since Sonic would be busy.

"Yes, of course," Shadow said. "I'll meet you this evening, usual time and place."

"Good idea, Shadow. See you then," she said cheerily, and the communicator went silent with a short crackle.

Shadow then frantically looked back around the corner of the building to see if Sonic and Amy were still there by any chance.

"Damn it," he hissed under his breath. They were gone. He jogged in the direction he thought they'd gone, to see them come out of a coffee shop across the road with drinks in their hand. Shadow stopped as fast as he could and stepped behind a building corner. He tensed up, he was almost spotted because of his carelessness.

Why was he still perusing them? he thought to himself. Well, he wanted to know just how serious the relationship had gotten. It was not like Sonic to tie himself down like that. It was also not like Sonic to drink coffee. Unless that was where he got all of his energy from, Shadow thought to himself. He smirked as he saw Sonic take a sip then his face scrunched up slightly in disgust, then look at Amy to see if she'd noticed. Amy hadn't a clue.

"He's trying to impress her…" Shadow said in a quiet whisper of amusement.

Suddenly, Sonic want to hug Amy and the coffee went flying out of his hand. The hedgehog kissed the female on the lips. Amy managed to keep a hold of her coffee unlike Sonic. Amy swooned for a few moments then looked at the spilled mess on the floor in shock. Shadow saw her mouth move as if she was talking, and she pointed behind her to the coffee shop. Sonic put his hands out and shook his head with a chuckle and pointed down the street.

"Nice move, Sonic," Shadow commented under his breath and followed them from the large distance as they walked down the street.

A few hours passed and Shadow continued to watch them from a distance. A few moments it crossed his mind that he didn't need to watch them for this long, but then it was kind of fun watching Sonic cope with the situation in his own little ways. Dropping the coffee on purpose wasn't the only thing he did. The hedgehog seemed to keep kissing Amy to avoid getting seen doing other things. It looked as if Sonic was getting rather uncomfortable in a few situations, and whenever Amy spoke to him with a questioning look on her face, Sonic just kissed her to make her drop the subject. And while Amy swooned, the hedgehog gave a look of disgust for a few seconds.

Shadow was confused. Why was Sonic with Amy if he didn't enjoy it? Was he trying to too hard to move on? Or did he just want to be with Amy, despite his obvious aversion to love. The little case Shadow had put him on had become so interesting. As the couple moved on down the street, Shadow got another beep from his communicator. He answered it, since at the distance he was to the two of them, they wouldn't be able to hear him.

"Shadow, where are you? You're meant to be at training in five minutes and I haven't seen you in the building all morning," the Commander. Shadow froze in horror.

Crap. Think of something.

"I… figured that my time would be put to use if I was active this morning so I went for a run," Shadow said as confidently as he could.

"You should have said. You'd better make it back here within the next four minutes, or I'm cutting your Tuesday afternoon session out of the training schedule permanently. If you can't be here for it, you might as well not have it," the commander threatened.

"Of course, commander. I'll be there in a minute," Shadow said. The conversation ended abruptly.

Shadow gave a huge sigh, feeling a slight sweat come on. If the commander hadn't called, Shadow would have forgotten completely. It seemed the controlling human wasn't all that harsh. Shadow got out his emerald and teleported outside the training arena. Then he used him communicator again.

"Okay, Commander. I'm in the training arena," Shadow said as he walked inside.

"Good, you'd better be," the Commander said. "I want your skills improved by the end of the day." The communicator crackled silent. Shadow sighed, it didn't quite work like that, but he would try.

At the end of the day, Shadow met up with Rouge as they planned.

"Hey, Shadow. You look worn out," Rouge commented when they met outside of the building.

"Yeah, trained hard today," Shadow explained, but said no more.

"Let's head back to mine so you can rest," she offered. She jumped up and hovered above the floor with her wings.

Shadow nodded in agreement and the both of them left. Shadow ran, while Rouge glided behind him.

Rouge opened the door to the apartment. As they were about to step inside, Shadow heard something in the distance. It sounded like a sonic boom. There was a slight wind. Sonic was up to his usual antics somewhere in the distance, and by the sound of it, he was going fast. Shadow grit his teeth in envy, if only he could go that fast. I know, he thought so himself, I'll increase my speed during training. He followed Rouge inside with a small smirk.


	18. Chapter 18

Shadow left a note on the counter in Rouge's kitchen early that morning then left promptly. On his way out of the building he passed the empty bar in Club Rouge and noticed the drink coasters on it, they looked like a new addition since he hadn't noticed them before. He picked one up and admired it, said 'Club Rouge' on it in the same block writing as the lit up sign outside at the entrance. Shadow smiled, it seemed as If Rouge really put a lot of effort into her business just to support herself, and she was doing a good job of it too. Suddenly, he heard the same noise as the night before. Without thinking, he shoved the small drink mat into his quills and ran through the main door.

When he got outside, he looked in both directions down the street as if he was listening out for something. He concentrated, listening out in the silence of the sunrise. He heard it. The sonic boom. Shadow shot forward and ran in the direction it came from, hoping to find its source. Sonic of course. He ran to the edge of central city and listened out again. The sound hadn't stopped. He skated faster and harder, hoping to catch up to it or find it somewhere. The chances of actually finding Sonic was slim, but he just wanted to get closer to work out how fast Sonic was going. He could have sworn that Sonic had gotten even faster than he was during the fight. And that was not good.

The ultimate life form got to a desolate, empty area when he saw it, in the distance. A blue blur passed by, and Shadow only saw it for half a second. His mouth opened in awe and shock. What Sonic had just done seemed impossible. The hedgehog was thrown back by a gust of wind, and his back hit the floor. Shadow lay there for a few moments, closing his eyes tight to avoid getting the huge clouds of dust in them. The wind died down, and he sat up, opening his eyes warily. Then he felt a wave a rage come over him. Sonic had become almost impossible to beat. Shadow slammed his fist against the rocky, dusty ground and ground his teeth together.

"I will exceed you, I swear…" he growled through his teeth.

When Shadow got into work two hours later, he saw Rouge in the corridor and ran up to her immediately He was desperate to talk to her.

"Rouge!" The hedgehog reached her and grabbed her by the shoulders. "You need to do me a favour."

"What?" Rouge asked, surprised to see Shadow.

"I need you to ask the commander to do something for me." Rouge looked clueless. "I need his tech team or whoever in this place that's qualified to make some faster shoes for me," Shadow answered in a rush.

"Umm… I… uh guess I can…" Rouge said hesitantly, trying to take in the information. "I'll do it as soon as I see him."

Shadow smiled in delight. He pulled Rouge closer and kissed her on the lips in the heat of the moment. Then he pulled away and ran ahead.

"Thanks, Rouge!" he yelled and ran off to his training room. Rouge was to stand there in shock and realise what had just happened.

Shadow was so over the moon about Rouge agreeing and the possibility of being able to run faster that he didn't realise he'd kissed her. He just got into his training arena downstairs and began training hard. He already felt energetic after his early morning run. Morning runs weren't a regular thing but, the events of the morning made him want to do it.

The arena wasn't big enough for him to run around so he practiced his combat moves instead. As he threw his spears, kicks and punches to empty space around him, Shadow looked furiously determined.

"Must… get… better… than… that… Faker…" he said through his gritted teeth between punches. "I'm… the… ultimate… life form… he shouldn't… even… stand… a… chance… against… ME!"

Shadow put in a little too much effort and fell forward mid punch. In that last second, he imagined that the blue hedgehog was in front of him, and as a result, tripped when he didn't hit anything.

"You'd better not be this sloppy during missions, hedgehog."

Shadow hissed in frustration and embarrassment when he realised that the commander walked in at the moment he fell over. The hedgehog pushed himself up to his feet and turned to the door to look at his visitor. "Shadow, I want to see you in my office in five minutes," the Commander said.

"Why couldn't you use your communicator to tell me?" Shadow asked.

The commander didn't answer, he just looked at Shadow irritably and left. The hedgehog was left in silence; his heavy breaths echoed against the walls of the empty room. "Damn it… I need this time to train." The ultimate life form walked towards the door then stopped in shock when he realised what this must be about. "Rouge asked him already," Shadow said. He felt his heart sink slightly. "He's rejected it, I know it…" he added as he slowly made his way to the commander's office.

The door was open and the commander was already sitting down at his desk. Shadow walked in slowly and shut the door behind him. The Commander was silent, he just pointed to the chair in front of his desk; Shadow sat down in it and waited for words to be spoken.

"So, you think you deserve a new pair of shoes," the commander said as he clasped his hands together and leant forward against the desk. Shadow nodded nervously. "What makes you think I'm going to use up some of our budget to make new shoes when the ones you have already work perfectly?"

"I need to go faster," Shadow said urgently.

"Why? You're already fast enough to complete your missions. You also have Chaos Control," the commander disputed.

"Chaos Control over long distances uses up too much energy," Shadow complained. "And it's not good enough in combat if I need to use speed to strengthen my attacks."

"What kind of missions are you expecting to get?" the commander asked. "The shoes you have now are good enough to do the missions I set you."

"How do you know it's going to stay this quiet?" Shadow snapped. "What if the world is threatened with something that's more powerful than anything else we've ever encountered?"

"You have your super form," the commander pointed out.

"Which requires all chaos emeralds, and we don't always have those in our possession. I don't want to have to rely on the chaos emeralds to feel safe."

"Safe?" the commander said in surprise. "You're concerned about your safety?"

Shadow tensed up. He opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out, he seemed clueless.

"Hiding something, hedgehog?" the commander asked. Shadow looked at him in discomfort at that question. "Is there something out there that the ultimate life form fears?"

His tone was mocking, which made Shadow grit his teeth in anger.

"No," Shadow said. "I was on about the Earth. I shouldn't have to have the chaos emeralds to think that the Earth is safe."

"Lies. Why didn't you say that before?" the commander asked.

There was a pause of silence and Shadow's irises darted in several directions before he answered.

"I didn't know how to put it," Shadow said. The commander leaned back in seat with a smug smile on his face. Shadow looked at him irritably. "I need those shoes," he urged, trying to bring the conversation back on track

"You _want _those shoes, and you will not get those shoes," the commander said.

"But I need to be faster than Faker!" Shadow yelled in a sudden outburst, then covered his mouth in shock. The commander looked delighted at this new piece of information. He seemed to mull the information over as he leaned over his desk to look at Shadow closer, his mouth opened, ready to speak, but nothing came out until he came to his conclusion.

"You, the ultimate life form, is envious of Sonic's power," the commander said in a low voice with a teasing smirk. Shadow grit his teeth and held back a growl. "You're not even denying it." Shadow's eyes widened slightly. "Well, in the light of this new information, I'll think about the proposal, Shadow." The hedgehog looked surprised.

"You… really think I should get the new shoes?" he asked.

"I'll think about it," the commander said firmly, repeating himself. "Now get out. I'll call you back here once I've made a decision." Shadow nodded and left the room in a hurry. He ran back down to his basement training arena, slammed the door behind him and sat down against the wall. His heart beat quickly in his chest. The commander was actually considering it! This felt like a breakthrough to Shadow. He put his wrist up to his mouth.

"Rouge," he said cheerily as he pressed the button. "I think the commander might just give me what I want, thanks to you." Shadow was left listening to his own breaths, because there was no reply. Shadow let his arm drop and sighed. "Must be busy."

The hedgehog pushed himself to his feet and walked into the middle of the room. Once he stood there, he took in a few slow breaths to calm himself down. Then he reached into his quills and got out that coaster. He looked at it in admiration then held it out in front of him. He stood in silence, concentrating on the object for a long time. The silence around him felt like a blanket over his ears and the coaster was all he could see. His surroundings turned into blurs. Then,

"Chaos Control," Shadow whispered and let go of the coaster. It dropped to the floor. "Damn it!"

He looked down at it in disappointment. He was about to pick it back up and try again when he was interrupted by his communicator.

"Shadow, forget training. There's an emergency," the commander said. Shadow rolled his eyes and replied.

"What is it?" he asked.

"A dangerous criminal has escaped from Prison Island and none of the forces there can stop him."

"Well that must be because you're still rebuilding the place," Shadow said. "Why was he put there in the first place?"

"Don't question, just find him and capture him," the commander ordered, sounding impatient. "He's still on the island. If you don't get there soon, he'll reach the ocean and there's no doubt he has a few friends that'll help him get to dry land. So get there and find him immediately. If you fail you will not get those shoes you asked for."

"I'll be right there," Shadow said. He took out his emerald, but paused for a moment. "Prison Island… do I really want to go back there again?" He shook his head as if to snap himself out of it. "I have to. Chaos Control!"

Shadow stood on the edge of the island, the jungle was right ahead of him. He turned his head as he heard footsteps padding on the sand by the softly swishing ocean. The hedgehog turned his whole body towards it all of a sudden when he saw who it was: it was a polar bear. Shadow watched it walk towards the water for a moment until it turned to look back at Shadow.

"You!" the polar bear cried out in his deep, furious voice. "You're the reason I'm in here!" Shadow didn't say a word, he just continued to look at the figure warily. "What do you have to say for yourself?" There was still no answer for Shadow, the hedgehog just waited. "I suppose you're here to bring me back to that prison." Shadow kept quiet. "Don't like to talk, huh?"

Shadow sighed with boredom. As the escapee continued to say things in order to try and intimidate Shadow, the hedgehog tried to think of a way to bring the polar bear back to the prison. Chaos Control was the obvious option, but the escapee needed to be restrained. Shadow thought back to the training he did before he was called back to the mission and his eyes widened in realisation.

"… well, guess what, you're not going to succeed this time!" the polar bear said. Had he been talking the whole time? Shadow thought to himself. The bear pushed his hands out in front of him and attempted to freeze Shadow to the floor. The ultimate life form jumped up, just dodging the attack.

As the hedgehog lifted into the air he concentrated on the escapee. When Shadow was a mere inch off of the ground, the bear shot another freeze attack. He felt the pressure build up inside of him, he could not fail this like he had during training. The ice travelled to Shadow in a few seconds as he got to the peak of his jump. When he felt his ascension come to an end, and gravity kick in he said it.

"Chaos Control!"

His eyes were on the polar bear the whole time.

Shadow hit the ground, bending his knees in the process and putting one of his hands on the sandy surface for balance. He looked up to see the ice trail above him stop in mid-air. He looked over to the bear, who had stopped completely, as if his life had paused. Shadow's eyes twitched when he noticed he could still hear the ocean around him, softly swishing. He looked to the trees to see them swaying slightly, and heard the leaves rusting. Time hadn't stopped, but the bear had.

The ultimate life form had succeeded. He's performed Chaos Control to stop time on a chosen object. Although it required a lot more concentration, it required less energy. Shadow sent a large, sharp chaos spear towards the ice trail above and sliced it from the bear's hands. Then he grabbed the bear and teleported him inside the prison. The guards took him and restrained him, looking confused as how compliant the polar bear seemed to be. Once he was in the correct restraints, Shadow clicked his fingers. The bear moved again, looking completely horrified and dazed.

"W-what happened? How did you do that? This… this isn't fair!" he cried out.

Shadow sighed and shook his head as he turned to leave. He guessed that the employees at Prison Island knew how to deal with the escapees freezing powers so left them. He took out his emeralds and braced himself for a long distance teleportation.

The hedgehog arrived outside of the commander's office and walked straight in.

"The deed is done. Do I get those shoes?" Shadow asked in exasperation. The commander looked at him sternly and pointed at the chair. Shadow closed the door behind him and sat down.

"Well, you should have given me more time to decide," the commander said.

"I succeeded in my mission, surely that gives you a good enough to say yes," Shadow said, sounding frustrated. The commander shook his head.

"I said you wouldn't get the shoes if you failed, but I didn't say you would get them if you succeeded," the commander said. Shadow's eyes widened, realising he may never get the shoes. "But, seeing how desperate you are for them, it sways me towards saying yes. We can't have an agent with a lack of confidence. If you feel you aren't good enough your self-esteem may go down and your performance could suffer because of it."

Shadow had no idea where all of this had come from, but played along anyway.

"You're right! I'm worthless!" Shadow acted upset. "That Faker will always be faster than me." The commander sighed and shook his head.

"You don't need to overact your feelings, Shadow," the commander said. "You can have the shoes." Shadow's facial expression lit up like a sunshine breaking through the clouds on a summer afternoon. "But we're going to have to take the ones you already have for a week or so, so the tech team have something to base the new ones off of."

Shadow's shoulder slumped and he looked torn.

"Well, I don't want to go without these shoes but… I guess this will benefit me in the long term," Shadow said. "You can take my shoes," he said with confidence. "The only problem is, I have no other shoes to wear."

The commander was silent for a few moments, as if he was thinking. Then he got up and walked to the door, he beckoned for Shadow to follow. They walked for a few minutes in a silence that Shadow considered to be awkward, until they reached a storage cupboard.

"There are uniforms in here. Uniforms which include shoes," the commander said.

"I'm not going to have to wear boots, am I?" Shadow asked. "I'm not used to them. I've never worn anything other than my flexible shoes."

"It's these or nothing," the commander said as he reached to a high shelf, then dumped a pair of big black boots in front of Shadow. Shadow stared at them unhappily for a few moments.

"I suppose these will do for now," Shadow sighed. He got off his own shoes and put on the boots. "I look so out of place now…"

"You can always put your own shoes back on and-"

"No. You keep these. Just make sure your tech team don't get over excited and break them," Shadow said as he passed his beloved shoes to the commander. Then the hedgehog took a few steps, he found himself nearly falling over. "These are too light. I feel like I'm going to float away."

"Hmm, maybe you don't need new shoes after all. You just needed to get rid of these. They were weighing you down," the commander said as he examined the weight of the shoes with his hands.

"I do need those shoes, or something better than that," Shadow said as he began wearing them in by bending his legs and flexing the shoe as if he was getting used to them and making sure they fit. "But, if you don't mind, I'd like to test these out for running."

"Do whatever you want, just be back here by the end of your training session," the commander ordered and left.

Shadow nodded and jogged out of the building and sped off.


	19. Chapter 19

Several months passed, and Shadow felt an increase in his skills and speed. The few weeks without his shoes were useful to him, as it helped him to work on his natural speed and leg strength, thus, when he got the new shoes back he had an extra boost to add to the speed of the new technology. His new shoes looked exactly the same, but the mechanisms inside were more powerful and faster. Shadow had no clue about how it worked, he just knew that he had what he wanted.

He also noticed that as he got faster, he saw less of the person who made him want to do that. The sonic booms in the area became less frequent and lower in intensity. Had Sonic started running less often so he could spend more time with Amy, perhaps? Shadow felt disappointed, he would not feel good about being faster than Sonic, if Sonic wasn't at his peak condition. Although, Shadow realised, there was probably a very good reason for this slowdown.

Shadow left work after another intense training session. Walked out and tried to find a place to sleep. He still hadn't gotten enough money to buy a home or even split the rent with Rouge. He didn't want to burden his only friend so only stayed with her part time. Sleeping outdoors didn't bother Shadow though, since he did it on a regular basis. And he didn't want to overdo it with his relationship with the bat, it seemed they were getting closer and closer with each time he stayed over. Shadow felt that perhaps, they were making a connection. They'd even gone so far as to have a few long and passionate kisses.

He got to the outskirts of the city when he heard a familiar voice.

"The last piece. Now the Master Emerald is complete."

Shadow turned to see a red figure amongst the group of trees. It turned around, returning Shadow's gaze. The hedgehog didn't know what to say, this person wasn't threat, but he wasn't such a big friend either.

"Shadow?" the individual said in a questioning tone.

"Knuckles," Shadow said as more of a reserved greeting, rather than a question.

"I haven't seen you since the Black Arms invasion," Knuckles said as he slowly walked over to Shadow. Shadow nodded, saying nothing in return. "Rouge mentioned you once or twice, but I started to disbelieve her since I never saw a hint of your presence."

Shadow nodded in acknowledgement. That's good, he thought to himself, I'm not the only person burdening Rouge with their presence; Knuckles sees her too.

"You look a little burnt out," Knuckles commented.

"Yeah, I've been training," Shadow said. "Increasing the strength of my chaos attacks."

Knuckles looked amused at this.

"You, training? What happened to being the ultimate life form?" he chuckled. Shadow looked at him seriously, feeling inadequate once again. "You defeated Black Doom all alone, didn't you?"

"Yes, but you never know what will happen next," Shadow said. "I struggled to do that, what if the next disaster is even worse." Knuckles nodded and gave a look of understanding.

"I suppose. And there's always the satisfaction of improvement," Knuckles said. Shadow broke eyes contact by looking to the side and nodded. "I guess you'd need to do a lot of that in the strength department."

"What?" Shadow said and looked back at Knuckles, a flash of anger in his eyes.

"You said you practiced your Chaos attacks, but do you actually have the strength to rival me?" Knuckles asked. Shadow narrowed his eyes at the echidna.

"Let's see," he challenged.

"Come to Angel Island with me, I have something more important to do first," Knuckles offered. Shadow nodded.

"I can teleport you there if you wish, that'll get us there quicker," Shadow said.

"Thanks, Shadow," Knuckles said.

"Well, I've never been to Angel Island so I don't know exactly where it is, but it's near Station Square, right?" Shadow asked.

"Well, Station Square is nearer to it than here is," Knuckles said. "But it's better than nothing." Shadow but his arm on Knuckles' shoulder and they teleported. "I'll lead the way," Knuckles said and sprinted ahead. Shadow followed with a light jog.

When they got to Angel Island, Knuckles put the Master Emerald pieces back on the shrine and left it to heal.

"I have to give it a while," he explained to Shadow. Shadow stood at the bottom of the shrine and waited for Knuckles to walk down the steps. "While I wait, I don't' mind comparing my strength with yours." Shadow nodded.

"Thanks," Shadow said. "Any idea how we'll do that? Arm wrestle? A full fight?" Knuckles looked thoughtful at Shadow's suggestions. He looked to his side and smirked confidently. He pointed to an arrangement of rocks, scattered about the area.

"Let's see how many of these you can lift. I can lift all of them."

Shadow looked sceptical. He stood with his arms folded and watched as Knuckles sauntered over to them. The echidna grabbed the bottom of the smallest rock and lifted it with one arm. Shadow looked impressed; Knuckles has lifted rock that was bigger than a bus. He gave it a weak underarm throw and it landed on the floor a few meters away. The echidna discarded it as if it was a piece of litter going into a bin. The ground shook for a moment.

"Can you do that?" Knuckles asked Shadow. The hedgehog didn't answer, nor did he nod or shake his head. He walked over to the rock and put his hands underneath it. He took in a deep breath and pulled up on it. He shut his eyes tightly and held his breath as he pulled even harder on it. Half a minute passed and there was no movement from the rock. He grit his teeth and let out a grunt. "Give it up, Shadow," Knuckles said impatiently. Shadow pulled his hands out from the edge of the rock and bent over slightly, panting.

"Super strength isn't my area," Shadow said through his heavy breaths. Knuckles walked to the side and went behind an extremely large rock. He came back out from behind it with an even smaller rock. It was a little smaller than a minibus and about half the size of the previous rock the hedgehog had tried to lift. Knuckles set it down in front of Shadow.

"Try this," he said. Shadow finished catching his breath. Less enthusiastic than before, he put his hands at the edge of the bottom of the stone and put it all of his force. The rock began to lift at the opposite corner to the one Shadow had his hands on. "You're getting there," Knuckles urged. Shadow cried out as he pulled the rock up further then pushed it over. The whole stone flipped over on its side. Suddenly relieved of all of that weight, he stumbled back and nearly fell over. He looked down.

"This is shameful," the hedgehog mumbled.

"That's because you concentrate so much on your Chaos Powers, when you should work on your body strength as well," Knuckles said. "Put those emeralds down for a while and do some press-ups or something."

"I think I can easily lift my own body weight," Shadow said as he looked down at his small and lean body. "But I see your point." He looked back up at Knuckles as he acknowledged his advice. "I suppose I need to mix my training up a bit. I tend to practice my speed and chaos abilities but I've neglected my strength, and that's an important factor to my abilities."

Knuckles nodded.

"Yep, I'm glad you finally see that. You'll never be as strong as me, Shadow, but you can always improve your current strength."

Those words hurt Shadow, because they were true. He could never be as strong as Knuckles, but he at least wanted to try to be. He looked at the echidna desperately.

"Please, Knuckles, help me train," Shadow said urgently as he took a step closer to Knuckles. The hedgehog wanted this very much. "You know about this more than I do."

"I don't have the time to come out and train you, Shadow," Knuckles said as he shook his head. "I have duties."

"I can come here and train," Shadow said. "Just a couple of short sessions a week where I show you my progress and you can give me goals." Knuckles was silent, he took in a deep breath and closed his eyes, as if he was taking the time to think about it. Shadow swallowed as he waited anxiously for Knuckles' answer. "Fine, it can't take me away from my duties that much."

Shadow smiled, it must have been first time Knuckles ever saw him grinning so much.

"Thank you," Shadow said gratefully. "This means a lot to me."

"Just start off with a bit of weight training each day, and come back to me at the end of the week," Knuckles suggested. "You don't want to push yourself to an injury."

"Of course," Shadow nodded. "I'll try not to hurt myself." He was about to turn and leave, when he heard the sound of wing flaps. He looked up to see Rouge gliding towards them. He made eye contact with her, she looked shocked to see him. A few moments later, she landed in between the two males.

"Oh, hello, Shadow. I didn't expect to see you here," she said, sounding astonished.

"Knuckles is going to help me to build my strength," Shadow said.

"Why," Rouge chuckled. "You're already strong enough." Shadow shook his head in disagreement.

"No," he denied. "I'm not as strong as I could potentially be. I need to reach that potential, then pass it!" Shadow clenched his fist in front of him determinedly.

"Wow, you really are into this training," Rouge chuckled. "Shadow begged me to convince the commander to get him faster shoes a few months ago. He even- jumped for joy when I said I would."

Shadow noticed the sudden stop before she mentioned how happy he was when she'd agreed all those months ago. He didn't recall jumping for joy, he didn't recall anything. So he just took it as an exaggeration used to spice up the conversation.

"Shadow jumping for joy? That's hard to believe," Knuckles said sceptically. Shadow didn't react to it, he felt a little embarrassed. "I suppose you wanted those shoes a lot then."

"Yes, I want to be faster than that Faker," Shadow said boldly. "I'm yet to test my new speeds against him. Anyway, I'd better leave."

Shadow turned to leave again and began walking. Then he got out his emerald. As he was about to teleport, he turned back due to a sudden feeling of curiosity. Just what was Rouge doing on the floating island? He turned his head and looked at the two of them at the corner of his eye. Then he swooped around a full 180 degrees, gobsmacked by what he saw. Knuckles and Rouge had no idea that Shadow was looking at them, or of any of their surroundings for that matter. The two of them were locked in a passionate kiss.

Shadow gulped and thought to himself, well that was unexpected.


	20. Chapter 20

A couple more months passed. Shadow thought about his current situation as he did press-ups. Of course, to make the press-ups a challenge, he put on a heavily weighted vest so he had to put in effort to lift himself from the ground. As he did so, his mind went over his training with Knuckles, and his relationship with Rouge. He never told Rouge that he'd seen her kissing Knuckles. Shadow assumed they were a couple, since he bumped into her several times at the island. Several times, when the couple thought he'd left, he caught them kissing. Despite this, Rouge continued to flirt with Shadow. And the hedgehog just let it happen. It was like they were in a very slow-moving relationship, whist Rouge was in a much steadier one of her own.

But Shadow didn't want to lose out on the wonderful feeling the kisses gave him. It was like reliving the feeling Sonic gave him, but it was another person so it felt a tad different. Lacking, even. Although, one kiss certainly didn't even pale in comparison to the wonderful experience he had with Sonic. Shadow wondered if Sonic felt the same way, and whether Amy could ever give Sonic the same thing, when she was of the appropriate age, of course. And meanwhile, he'd keep it steady with Rouge. Besides, what Knuckles didn't know, wouldn't hurt him, right? Shadow thought about this to himself as he finished the daily target of press-ups. His mind had drifted from counting, but he was sure he must have done 100. By then, his arms gave in and he fell to the floor, panting. The muscles in his arms were burning, so he lay there for a while he waited for the pain to fade away.

As Shadow lay on his stomach upon the cold, harsh concrete floor, he heard footsteps. They were slow, echoing footsteps, but there were the sound of high heels. They were a welcoming sound, because in a military building where a large majority of the employees were male, it was likely that the footsteps belonged to someone very close to Shadow.

"Hey, there, handsome," Rouge said from the open door and gave Shadow a small wave and a smile. The other arm, the one she did not wave with, was behind her back.

"R-rouge…" Shadow said weakly, still out of breath from his workout. The bat walked in to see Shadow slumped on the floor, breathing heavily and dripping sweat from his forehead.

"Wow, you're working hard," she commented playfully. Shadow closed his eyed and gave a modest and soft grin. "Why don't you take a break?" She revealed a bottle of ice cold water from behind her back. She bent down, placed the plastic bottle on the floor sideways, and then rolled it to Shadow. The hedgehog pushed himself up so he was sitting instead of laying, then began to gulp the water.

"Umm, Shadow…" Rouge said nervously. She looked down at the floor and fiddled with her hands. "There's something I want to talk to you about."

Shadow took a break from his water and set it down. He stood up, wavering a bit as he tried to stand straight. It didn't take long to stand with his usual posture and look at Rouge intently. The bat sighed sadly.

"You… saw me and Knuckles, didn't you?" she asked.

Shadow froze. He didn't know what to say. He was silent. What could he say? No? But then that would seem as if he knew. Yes? But then it would be all over. What? But it was so obvious he knew by now, he'd been standing there in silence for so long. Just say something, he thought to himself. Anything!

Shadow opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out, just a small sound, words that lost their chance at being spoken.

"You saw us kiss, didn't you?" Rouge asked, sounding disappointed.

Shadow nodded. He'd seen them many times.

"I've been so awful…" she said as she hung her head in shame. Her large ears drooped. "To you… to him…"

"Hmm…" Shadow said. "To… both of us?"

"Yes," Rouge said. "I've tried to have a relationship with the both of you. I can't help my feelings. You're just so handsome and charming and I just led you on. But then Knuckles and I got together."

Shadow nodded in acknowledgement. He kept a straight face.

"I decided then, I'd keep the flirting to a minimum, better yet, non-existent. But the, you kissed me," Rouge said.

Shadow's eyes widened.

"I what?" he asked.

"You kissed me, remember?" Rouge asked. Shadow still looked clueless. "When I said yes to something, you kissed me."

"To… what? Yes to what?" Shadow looked troubled.

"To ask the commander to make those shoes."

Shadow gasped. The memory flooded back, but it was such a subconscious action that he didn't even realise that he'd done it.

"I… didn't… mean… I mean, I did, but…" he didn't know what to say that wouldn't make him seem like a jerk, or get him into deep trouble.

"Shadow? What are you talking about?" Rouge asked.

"Rouge… I, didn't mean to kiss you that day," Shadow said boldly. "It was just a spur of the moment. I didn't realised I'd done it up until now."

"Oh, right," Rouge said. Her eyes widened slightly in sadness. Shadow walked right up to her and grabbed her hand with both of his.

"But, you still mean something to me," Shadow said. "That kiss may have been spontaneous, but the others were not." Rouge gave a weak smile. "But this can't go on now," Shadow said seriously. "You can only choose one of us."

Rouge looked worried, but nodded in agreement nonetheless.

"I know," she said. "And it's a no brainer." She pulled her hand away from Shadow's slowly. "My relationship with Knuckles is official. What happened between us, was just a game."

Shadow nodded calmly, but inside he was panicking. What would this mean for him? It would change everything.

"I understand," Shadow said. "I suppose you'll want me to stay away from you for a while, so Knuckles doesn't suspect something."

"No, Shadow. I still want you in my life. We're friends. And, he'll suspect something if I suddenly stopped seeing you. Besides, we tend to cross paths when you go to the Master Emerald shrine to train with Knuckles anyway."

Shadow felt a pang of guilt. He had been training with Knuckles, and the echidna had done a favour for him. Despite that, Shadow had knowingly cheated with Knuckles' girlfriend. But of course, Rouge and Knuckles didn't know that Shadow had known all along, so perhaps Knuckles wouldn't be so upset with Shadow if he found out about the cheating. Shadow was conflicted on the matter; he didn't know what to expect of this situation.

"Anyway, I should go," Rouge said as she turned to leave. "You have training to do."

"Rouge, does Knuckles have any clue about the two of us," Shadow asked. Rouge stopped at the doorway.

"No, and I want to keep it that way. This cheating thing… it's not me," Rouge said shamefully and walked out before Shadow could say anything else.

"I… have to respect her decision…" Shadow mumbled to himself quietly. "It was the right one to make." He couldn't help but feel let down, however. The passion he felt with Rouge fought against the feeling of loneliness, but it seemed he would have to deal with the awful feeling again. There was nothing he could do about it, though.

Shadow left GUN HQ in the evening when he training was done. He took a deep, uncomfortable breath. He was scheduled to see Knuckles at that very moment. Shadow took out his emerald and teleported to Angel Island.

When he got there, he heard voices. Was, Rouge there with him? He caught the voices mid conversation.

"…come clean to you about something," said a females' voice, Shadow's ears caught her voice midsentence. He remained behind a section of trees and bushes so he wasn't seen.

"Huh?" a male voice answered, it sounded like Knuckles.

"I… have a bit of… history with Shadow," the female voice said. It was obviously Rouge, she sounded hesitant and guilty. Almost ashamed.

"Yes, and?" Knuckles asked.

"Very recent history…" she added quietly. The shame was even more evident in her voice.

"How recent?" Knuckles asked.

"Very… and I decided to stop it because… you and I are getting serious now," Rouge explained sadly.

Shadow felt like his heart stopped for a second. What was Rouge doing? Shadow wanted to know how Knuckles would react, but he couldn't see either of their faces and Knuckles wasn't saying anything so he didn't have a clue.

"I couldn't keep that secret from you, because… we should be able to trust each other and come clean about these things? You know, I'd feel like I'd betrayed you otherwise."

"You've definitely ended it with him?" Knuckles questioned, there was tension in his tone of voice. As if his whole body was stiff, and there was a hint of gritted teeth in his voice too.

"Of course. It was the only thing I could have done. What happened with Shadow, wasn't serious at all. Just the usual teasing," Rouge said.

Shadow couldn't help but feel a little hurt by the comment, but he wasn't going to fret over it. He continued to eavesdrop.

"Why would you do that while we were dating, though?" Knuckles asked, sounding frustrated. "I know you have this… air about you that attracts people but… you didn't have to put it on for Shadow… that's just… a dishonour for me."

"No it's not," Rouge tried to assure him.

"Yes it is. I'm not enough for you, so you have to have an ultimate life form on the side!" Knuckles yelled. Rouge gave a yelp. Shadow's ears pricked up and he darted into the clearing to see the two of them. In split second, Shadow was in front of Rouge protectively, but Knuckles wasn't anywhere near her. A crash thundered through the air, and a large stone was broken into pieces. Knuckles had turned away from Rouge and turned his anger elsewhere.

"Sh-Shadow?" Rouge gasped.

Shadow felt guilty for assuming Knuckles would hurt Rouge. He would surely get the outcome of his reflex action soon enough. The red echidna swung around at the mention of the hedgehog's name.

"Shadow!" Knuckles exclaimed when he turned around and saw him. His brow was furrowed in anger.

"I came, just as we planned," Shadow explained. "And saw you get angry. It was just an instinct reaction to jump in front of Rouge. I didn't mean to offend you or suggest any dishonourable behaviour on your part."

"Of course, you would protect her, wouldn't you, Shadow?" Knuckles said bitterly.

"What are you talking about?" Shadow asked.

"Oh, don't play dumb, Rouge told you, didn't she?" Knuckles sneered. Shadow was silent. He looked to the side for a second to break eye contact with the angry echidna, then nodded.

"It wasn't her fault, though," Shadow defended and looked back at Knuckles boldly. "I led her on just as much as she led me on. We're both guilty."

"No, because you didn't know she was cheating," Knuckles said. "Although, it should have been obvious because you've crossed paths here several times. Surely you would have guessed something was something was going on between me and her."

Shadow sighed ashamedly and looked down.

"Yes… I… guessed something might have happened. But… continued to let her seduce me. In fact, I'd say I was to blame in this," Shadow said. He looked at Knuckles confidently. "It's in her nature to act flirtatious at times. But… I can't say the same for myself."

"So, what you're saying is that… you, lead Rouge on despite guessing that we were in a relationship?" Knuckles asked, his eyes widening in anger.

"Yes, so blame me, not her," the hedgehog said boldly with a firm nod.

Knuckles dashed forward in fury, with his fist out. Shadow put up his hands to protect himself, but that wasn't enough. Knuckles' punch broke through Shadow's barrier and pushed him back. The hedgehog was thrown like a projectile into a tree in the area he had just come from. There was a thud and the sound of the leaves rustling as they were shaken by the impact. Then a second thud as Shadow fell forward and hit the floor, which happened simultaneously with a grunt of pain. Shadow sat limply, shaking in pain.

"You can forget the training!" Knuckles yelled.

Shadow heard no input from Rouge.

"W-whatever it takes to… ensure I don't… destroy your relationship with Rouge. What I did was… wrong and…" Shadow stopped talking every few moments to wince in pain. "She shouldn't suffer for it."

"Shadow!" Rouge burst out. "You're making it sound like this is all your fault!"

"It's not! If course it's not! It takes to two cheat but… I explained my fault in the situation… and I accept all responsibility," Shadow said as he continued to wince and grunt in pain. He tried to get up. "Ack!" he choked and fell back down.

"Shadow!?" Rouge called.

"I'll be f-fine…" Shadow said as he closed his eyes tightly. "Knuckles… take good care of her… Chaos Control."

There was a flash, and Shadow was gone.

Shadow cried out in pain as he appeared in one of the alleys in Station Square. Every time he moved, it sent a save of harsh, sharp, crippling pain through his ribs.

"I-I… should have dodged or fought back…" Shadow groaned. "B-but… I d-deserved it…"

Shadow hung his head in shame for a few more moments. Then he heard footsteps, which stopped as they got right in front of him.

"Shadow?"

Shadow looked up to see blue fur and a bald, enlarged stomach.

"S-Sonic…" Shadow rasped as he looked down again. "It's you… and you've… g-gained weight…."

Shadow couldn't help but smirk on his tactically hidden muzzle.


	21. Chapter 21

Shadow looked up at Sonic in realisation; his stomach was larger than usual. Sonic looked down at his stomach uncomfortably then gave a nervous chuckle.

"Hehe, umm. Gained a bit of weight recently," he said. "But… you're lookin' a lot worse than me."

"D-don't ask…" Shadow hissed as he tried to push himself up. He immediately slumped back down again as he felt a sharp, crippling pain in his ribs. His eyes widened in pain, and his mouth opened wide as if he was going to scream but all noise he could have made was trapped in his throat. The blinding pain silenced him as he slumped down and stayed on the floor.

"How did that happen?" Sonic asked.

"I said don't-" Shadow hissed, but gave up mid-sentence and sighed. He looked down in shame. "Knuckles." Sonic chuckled again.

"What did you do to tick him off?"

"Don't… ask…" Shadow said more firmly.

"Already have," Sonic retorted smugly. Shadow gave an even more annoyed sigh and his shoulders sunk down.

"I'll explain later," he grumbled. "For now, you need to help me up." Sonic stepped closer and held out his hand to Shadow. "Not like that," Shadow hissed, becoming impatient. "Carry me!"

"Where?" Sonic asked. Shadow opened his mouth to say something, but stopped and looked down thoughtfully. "Do you even have a home? Where have you been staying all of this time?"

"Never mind that, where do you stay?" Shadow asked miserably.

"I don't stay in one place for too long, but if I stay with someone overnight, it would be with Tails or Amy," Sonic explained. "Do you want me to take you to Amy's?"

"Depends how far it is," Shadow mumbled. "Is it nearer than Tails'?"

"Not sure," Sonic said. "Doesn't really matter, though. I can get to each place in a few minutes."

"Just take me somewhere!" Shadow snapped aggressively.

Sonic stepped back and gave a look of surprise.

"I don't think I should," Sonic said as he folded his arms and pouted. Shadow grit his teeth and glared at Sonic in frustration. "If you're gonna be like that."

"Sonic… stop acting like a hormonal teenager and forget the strop! Take me somewhere I can rest!" Shadow demanded.

"Whatever, Shadow," Sonic said irritably and picked Shadow up gently. Shadow hissed in pain, but bared it by biting his lip. Sonic sped off down the street, running faster than all of the cars on the road. It was no-where near Sonic speed. Shadow felt that either Sonic was holding back for the sake of his passenger, or he was lacking. Shadow leaned his head toward Sonic's torso, and rested it against it. Feelings from before flooded back, so he pulled his face away.

It wasn't long before they reached the tall building that held Amy's apartment. Sonic nudged the doorbell with his shoulder. Amy's voice came through the speaker.

"Who is it?"

"It's me, Sonic," Sonic replied nervously.

"Oh, come right up, Sonic. You know you're always welcome," Amy said excitedly.

"I've got Shadow with me too, he's hurt," Sonic added hesitantly.

"Oh…" Amy sounded disappointed. "I mean, Shadow's welcome too of course!" She suddenly sounded cheery again. Shadow mentally rolled his eyes, Amy was probably expecting to spend time with her boyfriend, and instead he brought a friend with him. The reality of relationships.

Sonic walked through the door and carried Shadow up the stairs. He bumped Shadow against the wall several times as he walked up the stairs. Shadow hissed and cursed in frustration as Sonic made those fatal mistakes.

"Agh, Faker. Be careful!" Shadow growled.

"I'm trying, sorry the stair case is too narrow!" Sonic remarked. Shadow just growled again in return. They reached the top of the stairs. Sonic walked to Amy's door, she was already standing by it, waiting for them.

"Shadow, what happened?" She asked, shocked. Shadow grumbled to himself and kept quiet.

"Don't ask, Amy. He's not in the mood to answer," Sonic said, then gave Shadow an annoyed glance. Shadow hardened his foul look back at Sonic.

"Well, I don't think anyone would be in a good mood after being hurt," Amy said as she stepped aside to let them in. Sonic walked in a dropped Shadow onto the sofa. The ultimate life form took in a sharp breath then cried out in agony.

"Sonic, you could have been more careful!" Amy yelled, trying to get herself heard over Shadow's screams.

"FAKER!" Shadow snarled in fury as he closed his eyes tightly to hold back tears of pain. "MY FUCKING RIBS!"

"What can I do to fix it?" Sonic asked.

"We can't do anything," Amy said uncomfortably as she saw Shadow turn over and bury his head into a cushion to muffle his screams.

"Hospital?" Sonic suggested sheepishly.

"Oh yeah, sure, Sonic, they can put my ribs in a cast!" Shadow snapped in aggressive sarcasm as he brought his face out from the cushion for a moment. He buried his face in it again, in case the screams came back. He was quiet for the moment, though.

"Fine, fine. No hospital," Sonic said. "We just have to wait for it to heal."

"Easy for you to say!" Shadow snarled from the depths of the cushion.

"Shadow! Calm down, you're acting as if I'm the one who did this to you!" Sonic exclaimed.

"You are the one who did this to me!" Shadow growled.

"I dropped you accidently. It wouldn't have hurt if Knuckles hadn't broken you in the first place," Sonic argued.

"Knuckles? Why did Knuckles do this to Shadow?" Amy asked in surprise.

"STOP ASKING!" Shadow's muffled voice escaped from the pillow.

"Probably embarrassed he got beat by Knuckles," Sonic whispered to Amy. "Let's just leave him to it…" he said as he crept towards the door.

"No way, Sonic. Shadow needs our help. We're staying here," Amy scolded and grabbed him by the shoulder.

"But I don't wanna' stay here with that temper," Sonic complained as he gave up and walked back into the middle of the room.

"We can leave Shadow in here and go into the kitchen instead or something if you're that eager to get away from him," Amy said. She pointed to the door to said room. Sonic shuffled into it miserably. "I made some cake earlier."

"Aww man, Amy. More cake? My belly doesn't _need _more cake…" Sonic grumbled as he walked through the door. Amy followed him and closed the door behind them.

Shadow thought about what was just said. Sonic had put his enlarged tummy down to a simple weight gain due to too much cake? At least it was convenient. Shadow didn't want Sonic to get suspicious of his tummy and go to the doctors. It would be all over if that happened. Sonic couldn't know the truth about what was going on until it was over. And it was getting close. Shadow felt a gut wrenching sensation in his stomach as he realised that the stakes were rising. And time was running out. He had to heal. If only he could sleep… just sleep it off. Sleep off the fatigue from training, and his agonising injury. But the pain from the injury kept him awake.

Shadow suffered a sleepless night, and uncomfortable day. Being stuck in the same position for many hours was very unpleasant. And Sonic and Amy hadn't shown their faces since they went to bed that night.

"Damn it, Faker… wake up and come out here," Shadow said under his breath. He looked at the clock, it was nearly midday. "They're sleeping in an awful long time…"

He turned his head and looked towards one of the open doors that led to the bathroom. The toilet was right in his view, taunting him. He attempted to get up for what felt like the millionth time, but failed when it sent a shock of pain through his body.

"Faker had better get here soon if he doesn't want me to soak his girlfriend's sofa," Shadow grumbled to himself. Suddenly, his communicator went off.

"Shadow, where are you!" the Commander yelled. "You were meant to be in work six hours ago!"

"And he only thinks to call me now?" Shadow said under his breath. He didn't answer. He took his communicator off of his wrist and put if down on the coffee table which was within arm's reach.

"Shadow! Answer now, or I'll track your location, find you, and drag you here, understood!?" the Commander yelled. Shadow's heart skipped a beat. He couldn't let the Commander know where he was. He grit his teeth in pain, rolled off of the sofa, dropping onto the floor painfully. Tears streamed from his eyes as he held back a scream. He dragged himself to the window and dropped the communicator out of the window. It landed in the dumpster in the alleyway. Shadow pulled himself up and looked out of the window as he heard a truck pull up and take the dumpster away.

"There, he'll never find me…" Shadow sighed in relief. Then dropped to the floor again. He immediately bit his own hand to hold back a scream.

After laying on the floor for a few moments, he looked to the bathroom again. It was on the other side of the sofa. So he'd have to go double the length he'd already crawled, and that was torture enough. He took in a deep breath and inched himself as slowly and painlessly as he could, towards the other side of the room. As he was passing the sofa, the bedroom door opened. Sonic came out.

"Oh, hey Shadow. Up already?" Sonic asked, oblivious to the pain Shadow was in. Shadow opened his mouth to complain, but Sonic walked over and picked him up. "There ya' go. You need to rest." He put Shadow back on the sofa. The dark hedgehog bit back more screams of pain, but at least Sonic wasn't as careless as last time.

Shadow was about to open his mouth to speak again, but Amy came out of the bedroom.

"Morning, Shadow," she said cheerily. "How are you this morning, better?"

"No," Shadow said and frowned the most miserable frown he could.

"Well, Sonic can make you breakfast. I'm going to take a bath," she said and skipped to the bathroom.

Shadow deadpanned at Amy's back as she took the bathroom and closed the door. She was ignorant of Shadow's discomfort. He laid back on the sofa and sighed.

"What's up, Shadow, hungry?" Sonic asked.

"No…" Shadow grumbled.

"Thirsty?" Sonic pressed.

"No!" Shadow snapped. "I don't want anything! Just leave me alone!"

"Wow, Shadow. You weren't like this to me back then," Sonic said bitterly and rolled his eyes. Shadow turned and glared at him.

"We promised to never mention that again," he seethed.

"You're being an asshole. I wanted to remind you of when you weren't. Take an example from your past self and act like it, grumpy," Sonic said. He folded his arms and turned his nose up.

The bathroom door opened, and Amy stepped out. There was a faint sound of water running and splashing into a bath.

"Sonic, stop acting like a child," Shadow growled.

"Oh, Sonic's been like this for the past month or so. Just leave him to it," Amy said to Shadow, brushing it off as if it was nothing. Shadow felt a sense of dread inside of him, but it didn't show on the outside. "Sonic, while you make Shadow breakfast, could you make me something too?"

"Umm, sure. Whaddya want?" Sonic asked as if he was surprised by the request.

"Umm, just some eggs and toast or something. Don't break my kitchen," she ended on a stern note and retreated back to the bathroom.

"She's going to be in there a while, she likes her long baths," Sonic said. Shadow frowned even more, his brow furrowing down as far as it could go. "What's wrong with _you_?"

"Nothing, leave me alone," Shadow growled. "I don't want breakfast. I don't want you to talk to me. I just want to heal and get out of here."

"Wow. Amy keeps going on to me about how I've changed, but it's you that's changed," Sonic said irritably. "Lighten up!"

Shadow's miserable face did not change, it just stayed there. The hedgehog didn't say anything. Sonic turned his back on him as he went into the kitchen. The dark hedgehog turned over onto his side, slowly as not to hurt himself too much.

"I need to be training for Black Doom's arrival… and here I am resting," he mumbled to himself. "I need to get better soon," He looked to the kitchen, where Sonic had gone, "or we're all screwed."


	22. Chapter 22

A week later, Shadow managed to get up and walk and there was a bearable amount of pain to go with it. He got up from the sofa to walk, just for the sake of it. He was eager to heal, fast. But Amy would not allow it.

"Shadow, sit down. You still need to rest!" she told him off and walked over to him. She grabbed him by the arm and pushed him back down onto the sofa. Shadow complied and sat, so he didn't hurt himself in the process of retaliating. "You'll never get better if you keep moving."

"I _need_ to get back to training. I don't like just sitting here," Shadow said sharply. "It's not fair. Faker's out there running, and I'm stuck inside."

"You can race Sonic when you're better," Amy said.

"I don't want to race Sonic. I train alone," Shadow said. "I don't want him to know how strong I've gotten until it's too late for him to catch up."

"I think it's too late to catch up to you anyway, unless he loses that weight," Amy said. "But I think he's finally decided to settle down." It sounded as if Amy was in awe. Shadow looked at her wide smile and dazed eyes, then rolled his own.

"How old is he? Like, 15? He doesn't need to settle down," Shadow folded his arms. "And neither do you."

"Don't say that. It's never too early to settle down with Sonic," Amy said and pointed a finger at Shadow as she spoke. "Besides, it doesn't mean we have to sit here and do nothing forever. Adventures are still desired. Oh, imagine I got to save the world with Sonic! Just the two of us!" She looked too happy and excited for Shadow to take. He looked down to hide a sneer, what was wrong with that pink hedgehog? Or rather, what problem did Shadow have with her? Shadow couldn't work it out. Surely he didn't envy Amy for being with Sonic. Shadow looked back up at Amy.

"Amy, I doubt Sonic would let you come on one of his adventures. I wouldn't. It would either put you in serious danger, or you would just get in the way," Shadow said bluntly. Then he turned his head to the side in arrogance.

"Is that so? Well I guess I shouldn't make dinner later, because using the oven might put me in serious danger," Amy said and put her hands on her hips. Shadow looked back at her with wide, regretful eyes. "That's what I thought."

Shadow looked down and sighed, there was no point in arguing with her. She would just use the fact that she'd provided food and shelter to Shadow for the past week, against him.

"Umm… I'm sorry. I, just snapped. I've not felt very positive lately," Shadow said in a low voice. He said whatever he thought would fix the situation. When was he ever positive anyway? Shadow couldn't recall. At least, he couldn't recall a time after the ARK incident when he was.

"That's okay, Shadow. Being stuck in one place for so long can make you snappy," Amy said. "It makes Sonic snappy. That's why I let him run whenever he wants to."

Just then, Sonic burst through the door.

"I'm back!" he announced. As if no one had noticed, Shadow thought to himself. "Oh, Shadow still looks grumpy. Make him a chili dog or something."

"For the last time, Sonic, I don't like them," Shadow hissed. "They disgust me, just like you do."

"What's wrong with you?" Sonic retorted. "I'm just trying to be nice, despite the fact that you're always an asshole to me. Lighten up!"

"No, I won't lighten up until I can get out of this place," Shadow grumbled. "In fact," he stood up, ", if you want me to lighten up _now_, then I will leave _now._" Shadow began walking towards the door Sonic had just come through. The blue hedgehog blocked the doorway by standing in front of it.

"Oh no you don't, you still need to heal," Sonic said and spread his arms and legs out.

"I'm sick and tired of talking to you!" Shadow snarled. His whole body tensed up and he lifted his fists in anger. "Get out of the way! I'm leaving!"

"Shadow! Just calm down and think about what you're doing. If you go out there you'll make your injury worse!" Amy exclaimed. "Sit back down and we'll talk this out."

"Yeah, you don't have to lighten up if you stay, I'll stop going on about it," Sonic said, he looked rather desperate for the dark one to stay. Shadow's face expression softened. His fists dropped his sides and became relaxed palms and his shoulders dropped. The ultimate life form sighed, turned around and walked back over to the sofa.

"I hate you guys," he said miserably and slumped down on his seat.

"You're welcome, Shadow," Sonic said with a mischievous smile.

"Oh, it's lunch time. I could make us some pancakes or something," Amy said as she walked over to the kitchen door.

"No chilidogs?" Sonic asked.

"We ran out," Amy said. Sonic's jaw dropped as his mouth fell open in shock.

"What!? I'll go out and get more!" Sonic exclaimed and ran back out of the door. Shadow sighed and put his face into his hands in frustration.

"Just leave the chilidogs for one day, please…" he groaned in exasperation.

"Don't worry, Shadow. I'll still make pancakes for you," Amy assured him and walked into the kitchen.

Shadow sat in the silence for a few minutes, then got an idea. He looked around the room to realise both Sonic and Amy had gone. He took the opportunity sneak into the bathroom. He pushed himself into his feet and walked over. He stepped inside and closed the door behind him, as quietly as possible. Then he looked to the window, it was closed. He hoped to hell that it wasn't locked or stuck. Shadow lightly treaded over to it and fiddled with the latch, it moved easily. He pushed the frame up, thus opening the window fully. It clicked into place. With a mischievous grin, he put the toilet seat down and stepped onto it, using it as a step. Then pulled himself up to the window's height. He looked down to see a long drop, but it's something he would be able to handle with a lot of pain. But he needed to get out undetected.

Suddenly, he heard something.

"I'm back!" Sonic yelled enthusiastically. "I've got enough chilidogs for everyone!" The door slammed behind him. "Oh, where's Shadow?"

Shadow panicked and tried to pull himself through the window, but felt a shooting pain in his ribs as he strained himself.

"ACK!" he cried out and slumped to the floor. Shadow didn't hear any words said by Sonic on the other side of the bathroom door, so was taken by surprise when Sonic burst inside.

"Shadow, I heard ya' shout!" Sonic exclaimed, then noticed Shadow in a heap on the floor. Then he looked up at the open window, and worked out what was going on immediately. "You're crazy!"

Sonic picked Shadow up and brought him back into the living room. The dark hedgehog had to bite his lip to stop himself from screaming in pain. The blue one dropped his load onto the sofa, which caused it to yelp in pain.

"CAREFUL!" Shadow yelled. Amy ran into the living room.

"What's happened now!?" she exclaimed and looked at the two of them with wide eyes.

"Shadow tried to escape through the bathroom window," Sonic said, sounding annoyed.

"Are you crazy, Shadow? You could have broken your ribs even more!" Amy yelled in shock. "Can't you just sit still until you heal? Please!"

Shadow was silent, a grumpy look was on his face. He folded his arms and shrugged. Sonic sighed and put a hand to his face. Now Shadow was the one frustrating Sonic.

"Just sit down and stay there, or you won't get any chilidogs," Sonic said.

"For the last time! I don't like them!" Shadow yelled. Sonic ignored his words and picked up his shopping from the coffee table, supposedly where he'd left it and walked into the kitchen. Shadow caught a glimpse of Sonic's tummy, he could have sworn it had gotten even bigger in the last week. Shadow felt his heart skip a beat, he was running out of time.


	23. Chapter 23

Shadow stood up without a problem. His back was straight, and he twisted and stretched, showing no signs of pain in the process. It had been a week since the escaping incident, and he was better already. He walked towards the door and put out his hand to open it, but before he could turn the handle, he was stopped.

"Wait, Shadow. Where do you think you're going?" Sonic said sternly, catching him out unexpectedly. Shadow sighed and turned around, looking at Sonic grumpily.

"I'm all better," Shadow said and rolled his eyes. "I don't need to be fussed over as if I'm a child."

"Sorry for looking out for you," Sonic said sarcastically. "I'll try to be more of an asshole next time."

"That would be nice," Shadow returned sardonically. "I could leave without being interrogated."

Sonic walked right up to him, and looked him up and down as if he was inspecting the dark hedgehog.

"Hmm, are you sure you're alright to go out?" the blue one asked. He reached out his hand and jabbed his finger into Shadow's side, on his torso. Shadow didn't even flinch, nor cringe in pain. "Oh, you seem to be-"

Sonic was cut off as Shadow grabbed his hand before it could retreat to his blue side, then threw his own ultimate hand towards Sonic's stomach. But Shadow stopped all of a sudden, right before the punch impacted. The dark hedgehog looked down at Sonic's bulging tummy in shock, what was he about to do? Hit him there? And ruin absolutely everything?

"You know what, Faker, you're too thoughtless sometimes," Shadow remarked. Then walked out of the door.

"Wait, Shadow, where are you going?" Sonic asked, reaching out for him urgently.

"Just out for a run. I need to stretch these legs, and perhaps my whole body," Shadow said. He reached his arm back and shut the door behind him, to avoid any more conversation. He wanted to get out as quickly as possible; he didn't want to waste more time talking to Sonic. Shadow ran out of the door as he felt each second tick by. Time was running out, and a strong feeling of dread kept filling his stomach.

The dark hedgehog rushed out of the building and down the street. But he wasn't just going out for the run like he'd told Sonic. Shadow had another goal in mind. He set his senses for the nearest high energy source, and rushed off in that direction.

"I need those chaos emeralds. I don't have much time," Shadow said through his gritted teeth as he ran at high speed. He pushed himself even harder as he realised that he was lacking in speed. Resting for two whole weeks had made him rusty, and it frustrated him. Why had he done it to himself? Sure, he felt like he deserved the beating, but he should have passed it up and left. But he didn't realise the long term consequences at the time, and now he was behind on his training. "Damn that echidna!" Shadow yelled as he sped forward as fast as he could go.

Several hours later, Shadow has two emeralds in his hands. He admired the blue and red shine on the both of them. He looked at the sun and realised that it had gone past the centre, and was thus past midday.

"I need to find a place for these, then get back, before Sonic gets suspicious," Shadow said. He looked around the desolate, dusty area that he was standing in. There was a rock formation with a hole in it. He considered the risk of leaving the emeralds there, but there was an even bigger risk if he took them back. So he sighed and walked over to the hole in the wall. It wasn't that big, so no one would be seeking shelter in it any time soon. He could fit his hand and arm in it, but that was about it. So there was enough room for a few emeralds. He put the emeralds far inside one by one, then covered it over by a large rock that was a few meters away. No one could see them, but they could, of course, sense them. But if worse came to worse, then he could always track them down again.

Shadow walked through the front door to Amy's flat to find Sonic lounging on the sofa, watching TV. He had his hand over his enlarged stomach. He had a tired and hopeless look on his face. Shadow frowned concernedly at this. He closed the door behind him, thus making a noise, which cause Sonic to sit up and look at Shadow, his facial expression didn't change.

"Hey," he said with a disturbing lack of energy. This wasn't right for Sonic.

"Sonic, why are you so pathetic right now?" Shadow asked harshly. Sonic looked at Shadow, a hint of anger on his face. "I mean, usually you don't let anything get you down. Yet here you are, moping."

"I don't feel right, Shadow! I'm getting bigger and bigger by the day. It's changed the way Amy looks at me, and it's even changed the way I look at myself," Sonic complained. "And what's worse, is, that I don't have the energy to run it all off. I've really backed myself into a corner here."

"Well, maybe you were destined to be like this," Shadow said after racking his brain for answers. He had to come up with something, he couldn't let Sonic try to lose the weight, because the enlarged stomach was not just extra weight. "The good days are over, and now you're just going to eat and rest. Like a lot of those humans in this city."

Sonic looked offended.

"But I'm Sonic! I'm meant to be fast!" he yelled. "But I'm not anymore! This has to change!" Sonic got up from his seat. "I don't care if I have no energy! I'm going out for a run anyway!"

Shadow ran up to him and held him back frantically.

"No, Sonic, there's a better way of going about this! Just eat less fatty foods, that's all you need to do!" Shadow exclaimed as he held him back. Sonic stopped.

"Does that mean no more chilidogs?" Sonic asked. Shadow felt delighted on the inside, but didn't show it.

"Yes," he said. "No more chilidogs." He managed to keep his serious expression. "And no cake either." Now Sonic was the one who looked delighted, and even relieved.

"Great, but, could you be the one to break it to Amy that I can't eat her cakes anymore?" Sonic asked hesitantly. Shadow sighed and looked down for a second.

"Yes," he said as he lifted his head back up. "Now, losing weight is going to take a long time, so just be patient." Shadow began leading Sonic back to the sofa. "But perhaps you should rest."

"Can't I at least go out for a walk?" Sonic asked desperately. Shadow considered it for a moment.

"You don't want people to look at you," he said. "They'll wonder what happened to the world's hero."

"But Shadow!" Sonic looked distraught. "I need to go out! Being inside and all of the time is driving me insane!"

Shadow took another moment of consideration, then nodded.

"Fine, let's go," Shadow said. "I'll walk with you."

Sonic smiled his trademark grin and held a thumbs up.

"Thanks!" he said. "This beats just waiting for Amy to come back from the store."

"It sure does," Shadow said quietly as they walked out of the door, putting a subtle hand around Sonic's shoulder as they left.

Sonic and Shadow got into this routine for the next week or so. Shadow would go out to train and find emeralds in the morning, then go for a walk with Sonic in the afternoon. Sonic would feel as if he's losing weight, and Shadow would complete his goal. The day was finally reached when Shadow found all seven chaos emeralds, he hid a few of them in one hiding spot, a few of them in the other. So if someone was to find them, Shadow wouldn't have to track them all down. He gave a smirk of triumph, then returned back to Amy's flat.

When he walked through the front door to the flat, Sonic wasn't in his usual spot in the living room. Shadow walked into the kitchen, and then into the bedroom. Sonic was in neither rooms. Then he looked at the closed bathroom door, and heard a yelp of pain. That's when he looked to the sofa in a panic and saw it was soaked. There was another, longer cry of pain. Shadow ran over to the door and knocked on it frantically.

"Sonic!" he yelled.

"Sh-Shadow, go away! It's nothing!" Sonic yelled, his voice sounded strained. "Just must have ate something bad."

Shadow burst into the room anyway, Sonic was on the floor clutching his stomach. He was groaning and grunting, and his eyes were closed tightly in pain. Shadow's senses went blank for a moment, he didn't take notice of his surroundings, he just realised that _**it was time.**_


	24. Chapter 24

Shadow ran out of the door without warning, and left the flat in the flash. Sonic was left to panic and suffer on his own. But not for long, Shadow was only running to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds. He ran out to the first spot in the rocky area, and reached into his hiding spot to find three of his emeralds. He sighed in relief to find that everything he'd put there was still there. Then he performed Chaos Control and teleported to the second place, a jungle far out in from the any civilisation. It would have taken him an hour to run there, but he didn't have time. It took him a few minutes to find his hiding spot, since a lot of the complicated jungle looked the same to him. He reached into the trunk of a large tree and panicked when he couldn't feel the emeralds.

He pulled his arm out and looked around frantically. Then he heard the sound of a vehicle, and followed it. After perusing the sound, going left and right to follow its faint sound, his ears told him he was getting closer. Then he looked forward to see a large grey truck speeding between the trees. But it was going at a pace that was more than easy to catch up to. Shadow reached it in the second and shot the large rubber tires with a Chaos Spear. There were several people in the small trailer attached to the back, they point their guns at him. That's when Shadow noticed that they were GUN soldiers, and this was a GUN vehicle.

"Damn it," he spat. Then jumped into action. He leapt up in the air; his movement caused the soldiers to fire at him. But they missed him by a mile. On Shadow's way back down to the ground, he hit each of them on the head with homing attacks. Each of them yelled in pain from the impact to their heads, then were knocked out. Then Shadow used a large Chaos Spear to cut open the driver's part of the car. They shot at Shadow, but missed in a panic. Shadow only had to reach in and hit them over the head with his fist to knock them out. The passenger on the inside was reaching for a box that was in between the two seats. He tried to escape through the door, but Shadow sent a Chaos Spear through his back. The soldier was completely impaled. Shadow reached for the box and broke it open, his two emeralds were inside.

After pocketing them, he teleported again, to Space Colony ARK, where he kept his last two emeralds. He stopped for a moment and catch his breath, the sudden struggle he had to go through had flustered him. He took slow stroll towards the room he'd kept the emeralds in, because he felt that he needed to calm down. He would have been no help at all to Sonic if he returned and just panicked in front of him. He took deeper, slowly breaths as he walked down the dark corridor, then stopped at the door. It was already open, since he knew no one else was likely to come to the ARK and steal anything. He walked inside the room, which was an old lab, then he searched through one of the drawers. The last two emeralds were there.

"Finally," he sighed. "Now I can go back and help Sonic." He held out one of the emeralds and yelled, "Chaos Control!"

He appeared back in Amy's flat and ran into the bathroom again, where Sonic was still on his hands and knees, grimacing in pain.

"Shadow! You know something I don't, don't you?" Sonic yelled and looked up at Shadow with desperate eyes.

"Yes," Shadow said shamefully. He felt something get caught in his throat. There was something he needed to tell Sonic, but couldn't find the courage to. "Just, turn into your super form, and you'll find out."

Sonic looked at Shadow with a furious confusion.

"Shadow! What's going on!?" Sonic yelled. "I've gotten bigger, and now I'm having pains in the place I gained weight! What have you done!?" He started breathing quickly and heavily.

It seemed as if Sonic had finally guessed, but didn't want to believe it. Shadow wished it wasn't true at that moment too.

"Faker…" Shadow said softly as he got down on his hands and knees too to get face to face with Sonic. "Remember the incident that we had in our super forms?"

"Yes, Shadow! We had sex!" Sonic snapped impatiently.

"You're…"

"Don't even say it!" Sonic barked, he looked furious. "You're sick! You did this on purpose!"

"NO!" Shadow exclaimed, denying it. "I mean… well, I didn't really want to do it, but it had to be done!"

"WHAT? You- ACK!" Sonic was cut off by the pain he was going through.

"Sonic, just turn into your super form, it's the only way you can give birth!" Shadow yelled frantically. He handed over the emeralds.

"How does that even work?" Sonic asked distraughtly.

"No time to explain, just- AHH!" Shadow was towards Sonic by his chest fur. "Let go, Faker, that actually hurts," Shadow squeaked as he tried to tug his fur free, but each and every little strand of fur getting pulled, felt like a white hot needle on the skin of his chest.

"Shut up, you can't talk!" Sonic snarled.

"Turn into your super form, damn it!" Shadow roared, becoming as impatient and aggressive as Sonic. The blue one glared at him, then took the emeralds and began to try to concentrate.

Shadow crawled backwards, to give Sonic space. Sonic rolled over onto his back and sat up as best as he could. There was just enough room around Sonic for the emeralds to circle him, they started off slowly, and sped up. Sonic's fur started turning yellow, and his spikes rising. Shadow felt a chill go down his spine. But, Sonic was suddenly cut off by the pain in his abdomen.

"ACK!" he cried out, the emeralds all dropped to the floor, his spikes drooped again, and his fur darkened to blue.

"Try again," Shadow urged.

"I know!" Sonic yelled irritably.

It took several attempts, but Sonic managed to get to the peak of his transformation. Just as he was about to turn, another pain went through his abdomen. He cried out in agony, which pushed his transformation even further, due to the determination. There was a flash and Sonic was beaming with a golden energy. He relaxed his muscles finally and let out a deep sigh of relief, then began catching his breath.

"I… feel much better now," Sonic said while catching his breath.

"Good, now just concentrate on getting through the pain, and when you feel the baby's ready, just push it out," Shadow said. Sonic looked at Shadow as if he was stupid.

"What? And you just expect me to know what it feels like when it's ready?" Sonic asked, "How often do ya' think I do this!?"

"I… thought you would just get this feeling," Shadow said, looking anxious. Suddenly there was a loud bang and the sound of wood snapping. Then many stomping footsteps. Shadow looked outside of the bathroom door to see a hoard of GUN soldiers run into the flat. Shadow attempted to hobble over to the door and push it closed before they could get inside, but it was too late. Two soldiers stormed in and pointed their guns at Shadow.

Soon enough, the Commander walked in, stepping between the two of them.

"So, this is where you've been hiding all of this time," he said gravely, looking down upon Shadow as if he was scum. Then he looked at Sonic. "And Sonic too, looks like we're hitting two birds with one stone."

Shadow grit his teeth in anger and frustration, a growl sounded in his throat. He shuffled over to Sonic, and held him tightly by wrapping his arms around him. The both of them sat on the tiled floor. Sonic had the expression of a deer in the headlights. He was so vulnerable, and danger was right in front of him.

"Leave Faker alone," Shadow threatened firmly. "He's done nothing."

"When the emeralds were stolen from some of our soldiers in the jungle, we tracked the chaos energy signals back to here. There's no doubt that one of you stole the emeralds and killed one of my soldiers in the process," the Commander said angrily. "So one of you is responsible for the murder of a soldier."

"That was me," Shadow owned up. "I put the emeralds in that jungle for safe keeping, and your men sole it. It was mine," Shadow said. "And Sonic needed them, so I had no choice."

"What? You killed someone?" Sonic rasped, sounding hurt.

"He's also the one who blew up Prison Island, so don't be surprised," the Commander said snidely.

"Shadow…" Sonic groaned again, sounding upset and weak. Shadow saw Sonic's golden fur, starting to flash to blue. Shadow shook him, as if to snap him out of his tired state.

"Sonic, you need to stay in your super form!" Shadow exclaimed. "We'll lose the emeralds!"

Sonic took in a deep breath and scrunched his eyes shut as he tried really hard to maintain his super form.

"Just shoot them!" the Commander yelled impatiently. There were two bangs of the two guns. Shadow gasped and held Sonic even tighter, then let out a small Chaos Blast, which was big enough to push back the bullets and do minimal damage to the room. The soldiers were pushed out of the door by the shockwave.

"Quick, Sonic, use Chaos Control!" Shadow urged while shaking him.

"To where?" Sonic asked quickly.

"Anywhere but here!" Shadow exclaimed. Sonic nodded, closed his eyes and said his command.

"Chaos Control!"

The two of them disappeared. They found themselves in a green, open area. They were under some trees in the mystic ruins. Sonic cried out in agony yet again.

"Shadow… I feel it coming," he squeaked. Shadow pulled away from Sonic and looked at him in shock. "This is it."


	25. Chapter 25

Sonic cried out in agony again as he leant back where he sat. He grabbed Shadow by the chest fur and pulled him close. They were face to face.

"Remind me again why you did this to me!" the blue hedgehog yelled. Shadow just stared at Sonic in an anxious silence. He opened his mouth to speak, but a mere noise of hesitation came out instead. Sonic just let go of him and Shadow shuffled away. He looked clueless and somewhat afraid. Meanwhile, Sonic was in too much pain to hold a similar expression to Shadow, but Shadow had sensed that Sonic probably felt the same way nonetheless. "D-don't just sit there…" Sonic growled. "DO SOMETHING!"

Shadow looked even more surprised, Sonic was never this angry. He'd only ever seen Sonic as his cocky, cheerful, usual self.

"What do you expect me to do? Magic the pain away!?" Shadow remarked.

"Well you magiced me pregnant!" Sonic argued back.

"Haven't the emeralds done anything?" Shadow asked urgently.

"They haven't done enough!" Sonic yelled, then he wailed again and clutched the bulge on his abdomen. Shadow felt a strong pang of guilt as he saw that Sonic's cheeks were shining from tears. The dark one shuffled closer to Sonic, a soft, concerned expression on his face. Sonic shot him a glare. "Oh wow, the one time you're not being an asshole is the time I've turned into one!"

"Being in labour does that to you," Shadow said. Sonic grabbed onto Shadow's chest fur again as he yelled in pain yet again. His head tipped back and he cried out to the skies above. "S-sonic… just sitting there and screaming isn't going to do anything, you need to push."

Sonic's cheeks were a deep red, and a look of deep humiliation on his face. What had he been reduced to? From the greatest hero on the planet, to male that was hopelessly giving birth. He looked at Shadow in pure hatred. The ultimate life form sensed that a vengeance would be taken out on him some day. Sonic looked down and waited for the next contraction, which didn't take long at all. He grunted in pain and closed his eyes tighter. He hated it, it made no sense. Where would the baby even come out from? He didn't want to look, and didn't want to know. He just wanted it to be over.

"PUUUUSH!" Shadow began yelling.

"I knooooooow!" Sonic yelled in response as he pushed as hard as he could. Shadow bit his tongue as he plucked up the courage to go in front of Sonic's legs and look at the emerging baby. The dark hedgehog removed his gloves to reveal his black furred hands. He reached between Sonic's legs. "Get out of there!" Sonic snapped.

"As surreal as this seems, Sonic, we need to do this. Now, push one more time!" Shadow urged. Sonic did as he was told and cried out, louder than he ever did before while Shadow did his part. Suddenly, Sonic grew quiet, and male screaming was replaced by the screams of a new born baby. There was a small flash as Shadow cut the umbilical cord with a chaos spear. The deed was done. Sonic let his head and body fall back and relax. He lay flat on his back on the grassy floor. His spikes also fell limp and his fur back to blue. The emeralds dispatched, leaving Sonic to sight, close his eyes and relax.

Shadow looked at the baby in confusion and disgust. He was holding a tiny infant, covered in goo that came from inside of Sonic. Then he looked for where the baby had come from, all signs of the birthplace was gone. He looked back at the baby hedgehog and took notice of its black fur, in fact, that's all Shadow could notice. The baby looked like nothing but a ball of wet, matted, black fur. Shadow looked over to Sonic, who didn't show any signs of movement, apart from his chest moving up and down as he breathed. His eyes kept darting back and forth between Sonic and the baby. He didn't know what to do.

"Oh Chaos, it needs food!" Shadow exclaimed. He looked over at Sonic's chest, no sign of anything to suckle on. "Damn it." He continued holding the infant at arm's length, he didn't feel any attachment to it; he didn't want to feel any attachment to it. He looked over at a nearby water source. He walked over and held the baby over the little spring, then poured some over it, cleaning the sticky substances off of its fur. Then he turned back to Sonic, who was pushing himself to sit up. Shadow walked over to him and put the baby in Sonic's lap. The blue hedgehog looked at Shadow as if to say 'What do you want _me_ to do with it?'

The two hedgehogs had no clue about how to handle the situation. Or what to say to each other.

"I'll umm… go and find some food for it," Shadow said, to break the awkward silence. Sonic was left with the bawling infant.

* * *

A week later, the two of them had managed to keep the new born alive from liquids they'd found in plants and fruit. Shadow even took a few trips to stores in town for proper baby milk. The two of them hardly said anything to each other. Sonic still seemed bitter, and Shadow didn't know what to say to explain himself. Most of the time, he just ran to a distance long enough for Sonic to not be able to shout to him, then train for hours. This left Sonic alone and clueless with this baby. The blue hedgehog had grown quite attached to it.

"I don't know how to feel about you coming into my life," Sonic mumbled while looking down at the sleeping baby that was cradled in his arms. "And how Amy will react. I don't know what will upset her more, the fact that her boyfriend is a freak of a male who's had a kid, or the fact that it was with someone else. When will I even get to see her again if Shadow won't let me go back to the city?"

Sonic looked over to Shadow in disgust.

"What's wrong with him? Not involved at all. Won't even let me name the baby, but it needs a name," Sonic grumbled. "Like, junior, or something. I'll just call him junior until Shadow comes to his senses and realises that this a real freaking baby that needs a name."

Suddenly, Sonic an unsettling chill going down his spine, and the presence of something ominous.

"True, I'm not even sure what I shall call it yet," came a low, gravelly voice. Sonic looked up and gasped quietly, then clutched the baby tighter subconsciously. The blue hedgehog opened his mouth; he looked like he wanted to say something, but his voice got caught in his throat. He didn't turn his head, but he darted his eyes to where Shadow was; the dark one hadn't noticed the new arrival. "Call Shadow over if you wish, but it won't help the situation much."

There was a pause before Sonic spoke up.

"Y-you're Black Doom, right? You're supposed to be… dead," Sonic said quietly, he seemed intimidated.

"It's obvious that Shadow hasn't told you of our deal," Black Doom said. "I've sensed a huge rise in paranoia and anxiety in him these past nine months. He's awaited my arrival this whole time."

"Shadow knew you would return?" Sonic asked. Then he widened his eyes in realisation as he remembered the conversation he'd had with Shadow many months ago. The deal with Black Doom, who was still alive. The alien's arrival shouldn't have been such a surprise to Sonic, but he'd forgotten all about it until now.

"Enough talking for now," Black Doom interrupted. "Shadow has noticed my presence."

Sonic looked towards Shadow, who was skating towards them. The dark hedgehog was there in a few seconds, and charge straight for Black Doom. There was a look of pure determination on his face as he looked straight on at his target, then leapt up for the attack. Black Doom simply pushed Shadow back with his hand, and the hedgehog was thrown back and sent skidding across the grass and dirt.

"Did you think you had been the only person gaining their strength all of this time, hedgehog?" Black Doom boasted. "You don't stand a chance against me."

Shadow pushed himself back up to his feet.

"I was going to say the same thing," he exclaimed, then sent a Chaos Spear. Black Doom dodged it, and it missed the alien by a millimetre.

"I can see how much you've improved, but it isn't enough," Black Doom bragged as he sent an attack of his own. Shadow ducked down, and it scraped the top of his ears. The dark hedgehog hissed in pain. Then he glared at Black Doom in concentration.

"Chaos Control!" Shadow yelled. Black Doom was frozen on the spot for a few seconds. Sonic, however, and the surroundings still continued to move. Shadow leapt up to attack Black Doom, but he was swiped back immediately. Shadow gasped as he plummeted to the floor.

"I know what you're trying, hedgehog!" Black Doom said. "But stopping my time will not work! My chaos energy is a lot stronger than yours, so I was able to put up a barrier!"

"He was faking!" Shadow exclaimed and banged his fist on the grass. Black Doom looked to Sonic, who watched the fight in horror. The alien's gaze concentrated on the baby in Sonic's arms.

"The child is mine!" Black Doom said as he conjured up many more attacks, which all went Shadow's way, curving in all directions so that all angles were taken up by at least one attack each, leaving no direction for Shadow to dodge. There was a small explosion, and Shadow was left to fall to the ground and steam up.

"Shadow!" Sonic yelled. Then he looked to Black Doom in fear. Suddenly, despite Sonic's firm grasp on the baby, Black Doom levitated the infant over to him. It was in a similar fashion to the way he took the emeralds from Shadow during the climax of the Black Arms invasion. "STOP!" Sonic got up and attempted to do a homing attack. But a large swift strike soon took care of him, and the blue one plummeted to the floor.

Black Doom let out an evil laugh of triumph, and disappeared. Sonic lifted his head to see Black Doom leave with the baby. The blue hedgehog looked heart broken. Shadow looked over at his facial expression and felt even guiltier than before.

"I… thought I could stop him…" Shadow said distraughtly. "I failed… after all that work, _I failed_."

Sonic took a moment of silence to think about what had just been said, then he turned to Shadow with a look of anger and shock.

"That's was the deal, wasn't it? You… knew this would happen all along, didn't you?" Sonic asked. Shadow took a moment to consider the situation, then decided to just tell the truth. He nodded, but didn't say anything. "Y-you… you've ruined everything for me! My relationship with Amy, my pride, my body! Everything!"

Shadow just looked down, feeling absolutely ashamed of himself.

"I had no other choice," Shadow said. "I was that, or let the world die."

"Oh, really now?" Sonic snapped in disbelief. "No need to exaggerate, it won't help you!"

"It's true!" Shadow exclaimed desperately. "Black Doom gave me an ultimatum. Either give up my first born child, or invade the already weakened planet right away." Sonic didn't know what to say, but he still looked furious. Shadow continued to explain himself. "I figured that if I went for the first born child option, I would have a bit more time to train so I could defeat him. My plan didn't work."

"Wh-why didn't you just wait until you'd trained more, then got someone pregnant, instead of just jumping right in?" Sonic asked, sounding frustrated.

"I… saw the opportunity, when you and I started to… become accustomed to each other," Shadow said nervously.

"You used me all along!" Sonic snapped, his teeth bared in anger.

"It was better than breaking a poor woman's heart! I would never be able to live with myself if I had to put a woman through what I just put you through!" Shadow yelled. "I'm hardly living with myself now…" he added sadly and quietly, then hung his head in shame.

Sonic looked down and closed his eyes tightly, his breathing became erratic and shaky.

"F-faker?" Shadow asked softly and crawled over to him. He lowered his head to look down at what Sonic was doing; he was sobbing.

"You did all of this to me on purpose," he said through his tears. He got up quickly. "I'll never forgive you."

"But Faker!" Shadow yelled as he put out his hand for Sonic to stop. "Please!" Sonic ran away anyway, Shadow didn't have the time to get up and ran after him. "Damn it!" Shadow yelled as he banged his fist against the soft grassy floor. "If I'd just searched for the emeralds for that past week instead of trained, I could have defeated him! I'm an idiot!" He looked out to the horizon, which Sonic was disappearing into. "And now Sonic's gone…" he said sadly and softly. "And it's all my fault."

Meanwhile, Sonic arrived back at station square. He got to Amy's flat as fast as he could and pressed on her doorbell many times frantically.

"Who is it?" she called through the speaker, but it wasn't her usual cheery tone.

"It's me, Sonic!" his tone was desperate.

"Oh, no way!" Amy said angrily. "You're not coming back in here! First you leave my flat in a destroyed mess, then you don't bother to contact me for a week! I made a mistake trusting you, Sonic! These past few months have been mayhem with you and your sudden hormones, I'm sick to death of it! I don't ever want to see you again!" It sounded like she was on the verge of tears. The speaker went dead. Sonic pressed the button a few times again.

"Amy, please!"

There was no answer.

"A-amy…" Sonic said hopelessly, then slumped down against the wall.

Both hedgehogs, in their separate places, sat and sulked. Both of them felt guilty and alone.


	26. Chapter 26

Shadow got up and chased after Sonic. He had the feeling that there was still a chance to make up. He also had an idea of where Sonic went. He ran back into the City and towards Station Square, hoping to find Sonic in the guessed place. He skidded to a halt when he saw Sonic slumped outside of Amy's apartment building, and he did not look happy. Shadow couldn't tell why that was. Because of recent events, or had something happened between him and Amy. Shadow walked up to Sonic hesitantly to find some answers. Sonic saw him approaching and got up to stand in a protective stance.

"Stay away!" Sonic yelled. "I don't wanna see you!"

"Sonic, can we just talk about this?" Shadow asked. "I don't want to just… do that to you and then leave you to suffer on your own. I want to support you."

"I don't want support from you, you're the one who caused all of this mess in the first place!" Sonic yelled.

"And I'll be the one to fix it. It's the least I can do for you," Shadow said sincerely. Sonic kept his hard expression, not moved at all by Shadow's words. Then he sneered at Shadow, then turned and ran. "Faker!" Shadow cried out in concern and ran after Sonic. The blue hedgehog didn't hear his call, or had just ignored it. They reached the green outskirts again. "Faker! I need you!" Shadow called even louder as he gained speed to catch up with him. Sonic stopped, turned around and looked at Shadow in disgust.

"You _need_ me?" Sonic questioned with a scoff. "We're going back to this again. I don't care if I've just had a baby with you, we're not going back to that again. Not after what you did."

"Not in that way," Shadow explained. "I need your help… to train."

Sonic's eyes widened in fury, his anger and frustration still hadn't left.

"Is that all you care about? Getting stronger?" Sonic asked. "Your obsession to become better than me is going too far. Besides, you don't have to work very hard. My physical abilities are definitely not what they used to be anymore, thanks to you." Shadow was silent, a large frown was on his face. "In fact, that's why you used me, isn't it? Ruin my body, give Black Doom what you promised him, then become the strongest hedgehog."

"No!" Shadow exclaimed, offended by the accusation. "I explained it to you earlier, becoming the strongest has nothing to do with it. I don't need to ruin your body in order to become better than you anyway."

Suddenly, Sonic leapt for Shadow, tackling him to the ground. Shadow wasn't expecting the sudden advance, and went down with no retaliation.

"We'll see about that!" Sonic yelled ferociously, suddenly changing his mind about no longer being able to compete with Shadow. Shadow lifted his legs up and kicked Sonic off of him, kicking him in abdomen in the process. Sonic cried out in pain, taking in a sharp breath in the process. The blue hedgehog collapsed onto the grassy floor, clutching his new injury.

"Y-you… really don't care about what you've just done to me, do you? You just want to use me as a training partner…" Sonic rasped as he grimaced in pain.

"You attacked me, so I had to push you back in self-defence," Shadow said as he got up and brushed himself off. "Face it, Sonic. You're too far behind to catch up to me now, unless you train day and night."

"I don't need to train! My body is back to normal!" Sonic cried out in aggravation. He got up and ran towards Shadow again, but his speed had decreased over his lazy days, and Shadow was able to dodge without a problem. He slid out of the way, then hit Sonic in the back. The blue one rocketed towards a group of trees, then landed on his stomach under the shade. He stayed there, panting through the pain. The sounds of his breaths were muffled in the grass.

"Give it up, you can't beat me," Shadow said, as if he was telling Sonic off. "And if you can't beat me, then you definitely can't beat Black Doom. And if you can't do that, then you're of no use to me. I'll find someone else and you can sit here all alone and sulk for the rest of your days."

Sonic turned over onto his back and sat up, he looked up at the tree branches above him, then at Shadow.

"So, you've done all this to try and recruit me then. Are you building some kind of army?" Sonic asked bitterly. "Because whatever you're doing, I'm not a part of it."

Shadow shook his head.

"Only you and I are good enough to defeat Black Doom," Shadow said. "Because we are the parents of the warrior he's training." Sonic looked at Shadow in an anticipating interest. "And as soon as that warrior is ready, he's going to come back here and take over this planet. And since I'm not good enough to take him down alone, I need you to help me. But since you're too busy to save the world because you're having a tantrum about what's just happened, then you can stay here and I'll train to defeat him alone."

Shadow walked off, officially ticked off about the situation. Sonic gasped, realising the direness of the situation. He got up and chased after Shadow, which took a few seconds since the dark hedgehog hadn't gone very far.

"Shadow!" Sonic called to him, then put his hand on Shadow's shoulder once he'd reached him. Shadow stopped, but didn't turn around to look at Sonic. "Just… what is your plan?"

Shadow was silent for a moment, before he took a deep breath and answered.

"To train as hard as I can until Black Doom returns, and to make sure I have the emeralds when he arrives. Then to defeat him before he can do any damage."

"And the kid?"

"If it's necessary, then I must do it," Shadow said. "It's our child, or the planet."

"But, Shadow, there are other ways! Killing isn't the only option! That's what I don't get about you! Like when you killed that soldier to get the emerald. You could have negotiated, or just knocked him out. Or simply swiped them from him. But instead you just thoughtlessly kill!" Sonic told him off. "And now you plan to do that to our child?"

"He's not our child. He's Black Doom's solider, and he won't give a damn about where he came from," Shadow said. "He won't show us mercy; he'll be trained to take us down. He won't be our child; he'll be our assassin." Sonic looked shocked and afraid. "And if we show him any signs of softness, then we'll be playing right into Black Doom's hands. He wants us to hold back on our own son. But you have to think as if we never even had a son. That baby you held in our hands is gone now."

Sonic looked down sadly.

"Of course," he said. "I… understand why you weren't so involved with him now. I just wish you'd warned me about this before… I… got kinda' attached to the little guy," he said, his voice croaking in the end, it seemed as if Sonic was on the verge of tears.

Shadow sighed sadly. He brought Sonic into a hug. Feeling their necks rub together, Shadow's heart rate increased, and his cheeks glowing red slightly. Their embrace was tight, and their bodies close together, causing an all-around stimulation against their skin and fur. Suddenly, Sonic leaned his head to kiss Shadow, and Shadow leaned his head to do the same. They were locked into a passionate kiss for a full minute. Then they pulled away and looked at each other with dazed eyes.

"I'll do it. I'll help you protect the planet," Sonic said seriously. Then, Shadow moved Sonic back over to the trees and pushed him against it. Sonic grunted in slightly pain as he was banged against the tree quite roughly. "Hey, what-?"

Shadow silenced Sonic with another kiss. As they kissed passionately again, Shadow caressed Sonic's sides with his gloved hands, moving down slowly until he reached Sonic's hips. Sonic let out an aroused breath as Shadow moved closer to the lower area. Sonic wrapped his arms around Shadow's torso, and pulled him down to the grassy floor, where he sat against the tree and forced Shadow to turn around. The dark hedgehog was on his hands and knees.

"Wait, Faker. Shouldn't it be the other way around?" Shadow asked, sounding flustered.

"Nope, my turn," Sonic said in a playful tone. "Or don't you feel remorse for what you did to me?"

"Damn you, Faker. Go ahead," Shadow said, then let Sonic do whatever he pleased. The dark hedgehog enjoyed it, nonetheless.

Sometime later, the two were laying together on the grass, panting from exhaustion. Sonic looked as if he was in deep thought.

"Shadow… when Black Doom returns, I'll probably be in my thirties, right?" Sonic asked. Shadow turned to look at Sonic sadly. The dark one nodded. "And, you'll still look that same, because of… the way you are."

"Yes… you'll age and I'll stay young forever," Shadow said sadly. "That's the way it has to be. I'll probably be alive hundreds of years from now, and you'll just be a faint memory."

Sonic looked upset by this.

"Oh…" he said. "I… don't really mean much to you then…"

"In the grand scheme of things, no, Faker. You may mean a lot to now, but several centuries from now, I'll have other things on my mind."

"I mean a lot to you now?" Sonic asked. Shadow flinched.

"Oh… I said that, didn't I?" he said awkwardly. "Yes… you do…" He sat up and began twiddling his thumbs. "I feel so ashamed. You're supposed to by my rival yet, here we are."

"Havin' sex under a tree," Sonic said arrogantly with a mischievous grin. Shadow sighed.

"Yes, Faker, having sex under a damn tree," Shadow said through his gritted teeth, he looked to the side away from Sonic to avoid looking at him. "I'm so_ glad_ to know I've fed your ever-growing ego," he added with strong sarcasm. Then he decided to play Sonic at his own game. "But know this, you're my bitch now. I was your first, and will be your last."

"How do you know you were my first?" Sonic hinted. Shadow narrowed his eyes, Sonic's noticed this. "Ah, don't worry. There was no one else in my life apart from Amy, and she's too young to do that anyway."

"So I'm the only one you've done that with?" Shadow questioned. Sonic nodded, looking forward silently. "You're the only one I've done it with too," he admitted with a struggle.

"Shame I won't be around to be your only one forever, Shadow," Sonic said. Shadow nodded slowly.

"Hmm…" he made a noise of agreement, but also of curiosity. "But what if you could be?"

"Huh?"

"What if you could be around forever? If you had the chance, would you take it?" Shadow asked.

"Woah, you're asking me whether or not I would become immortal like you if I had the chance?" Sonic questioned. Shadow nodded. "I… don't really know, I guess I would." He began rubbing the back of his neck.

"Why?" Shadow asked curiously.

"Then I'd be around to protect the world with you forever," Sonic said.

Shadow put his hand on his chin in thought. Then smirked.

"It is possible, you know," he said. "If I were to mix my blood with yours… then you could become immortal."

"It's as simple as that?" Sonic asked.

"Yes, just let my blood get into an open wound of yours, then let the DNA do its work," Shadow said. "Of course… they were getting Maria ready to do it to her… but then…" Shadow looked down. Sonic didn't say anything. "But… I can use the technique on you…"

"Are you sure?" Sonic asked in awe.

"Yeah, I mean, even if we don't work out as a couple… the world could always use a second immortal hero," Shadow said. "And I need you to be in a top condition when Black Doom comes. If you start aging then there's going to be a problem."

"Sure," Sonic nodded. "Umm, how will you-"

"Chaos Spear!"

Suddenly, Sonic's arm was sliced open with a chaos spear. He grabbed the wound in pain and shock and breathed quickly. Shadow then pinned Sonic to the tree by his shoulders.

"This is it, Sonic. No turning back, are you sure about this?" Shadow asked firmly. Sonic cringed in pain, but nodded nonetheless.

"Yes, just do it," Sonic said, all tensed up. Shadow formed another chaos spear in his hand, sliced his arm open, then pressed himself up against Sonic. The front of their arms were wounded, and those wounds were exposed to each other. The blood started to mix and drip into each other's deep cuts. Sonic grabbed Shadow's shoulders and squeezed them tight, as the stinging of the cuts became too much for him.

"Sh-Shadow…. This hurts…" Sonic complained while he closed his eyes in pain. "When will it be over?"

"Now," Shadow said. He looked at Sonic's wound. The two bloods were mixing right inside of it, green swirling in the red. "Give it time and… the effects will take place."

The two of them sat together in another long, nerve racking silence.

"How will we know?" Sonic suddenly asked.

"When you stop aging," Shadow said. "And we won't know whether or not that's happened for a while."

"Oh, and what if it failed?" Sonic asked.

"Then we try again," Shadow said as he got up. "But for now, we need to train."

"Huh? Already?" Sonic asked, pricking his ears and looking up at Shadow.

"Yes, every second we waste sitting around, is a second Black Doom is taking to amass his army. We need to get a move on. We've got roughly fifteen years to perfect our combat skills and increase our strength and speed."

Sonic also got up, as he listened to Shadow intently. The dark hedgehog turned to his training partner.

"But don't worry about it, I've got it all planned in my head. I'll guide you, and you concentrate on catching up with me. I'm not going to slack, so you'd better work hard," Shadow said. Sonic nodded in determination. "We'll start with running, follow me." Shadow shot off into the distance, and Sonic followed. Within a few moments, they were nothing more than specs in the distance.


	27. Chapter 27

Shadow walked into the Tails' workshop to find Sonic and the workshop's owner, chatting happily. The dark hedgehog rolled his eyes, then walked over to them and slammed a chaos emerald down on the desk they were standing by. They both looked at him, only just noticing Shadow's arrival.

"Hey, Shadow," Sonic said cheerily.

"Don't you 'Hey, Shadow', me," Shadow said angrily with narrowed eyes and a finger pointed at Sonic. "There's the last emerald that _I_ found alone. You didn't even bother to help me."

"Relax, Shadow. I've been here helping Tails with stuff," Sonic said. "I am pulling my weight."

"Helping him with what, exactly? Practicing his voice?" Shadow asked. "Because that's all you two were doing when I walked in."

"Shadow, just chill," Sonic said, sounding laid back. "Or I'll make you." He walked towards Shadow and kissed him on the cheek.

"Whatever, Faker," Shadow said as he looked down to hide his blush.

"Now the device Sonic and I were discussing is nearly completed. Once it's done, I can use it to pinpoint the Black Arms' location and estimate their time of arrival," Tails said, his voice was deeper. He was also taller than Sonic, and his body had filled out more, he was a young adult.

"I won't be too long. It was this time fifteen years ago that the child was born. I have a feeling Black Doom would have gotten him ready by now, and is not going to wait much longer to get here to take the planet," Shadow said gravely. He looked at Tails. "When will the device be finished?"

"A few hours," Tails said. "Just leave it to me." He turned to a small machine that was on the worktop he stood in front of. He began tinkering with it.

"Shadow, wanna have some fun while we wait?" Sonic asked. Tails glanced at the two of them from the corner of his eye. Shadow noticed this and looked down as he blushed again.

"Faker, you may be comfortable with discussing our business in front of Tails, but I'm not. Shut it," Shadow hissed quietly through his gritted teeth.

"Of course I'm comfortable with it, Tails is my best friend," Sonic said, ignoring Shadow's discomfort. The dark hedgehog huffed and left the workshop. "Hehe, I'm gonna go after him," Sonic said to Tails light-heartedly. The fox nodded, but he seemed too indulged in his work to have paid attention to the whole conversation. Sonic left the workshop, to find Shadow stood outside looking miserable.

"We're not having any fun, because he knows we'll be doing it and that business is meant to be private," Shadow said grumpily.

"No way. He thinks we'll be doing something, whether we do something or not. So might as well take this opportunity to do it," Sonic teased. "I promise I'll be gentle this time."

"Damn it… and it's my turn to go on the bottom. Definitely not today," Shadow hissed. "Besides, Black Doom could show up at any time. We don't want him to show up while we're doing that."

"Fine," Sonic gave in. "Race instead?" Shadow gave a sigh of exasperation, the nodded slowly. "Aww, why the hesitation, you know you're going to lose, aren't you?"

"Perhaps," Shadow said through his gritted teeth.

"I know, I'll do you a deal. Winner gets to go on top," Sonic said with a smirk.

"Deal, the usual route?" Shadow asked.

"Yep, go!" Sonic exclaimed. The both of them shot off into the distance.

Not too long later, Sonic ran into Tails' workshop and stood by one of the worktops, he began tapping his fingers.

"Racing again?" Tails asked, not looking up from his work.

"Yup, Shadow should be here right about… now."

Shadow burst through the door just as Sonic had predicted.

"Damn it… I should have concentrated on my speed training more… you win, Sonic," Shadow said bitterly through heavy breaths.

"I get to go on top! Woo!" Sonic said and put his hands in the air while he cheered. Shadow put a face to his hand as Tails chuckled at it. Then turned to face them.

"Alright, it's done. Shadow, I'm gonna need some of your DNA so I can track it," Tails said.

"Seeing as mine will be most similar to Black Doom's," Shadow guessed. Tails nodded. "Okay," Shadow nodded. Tails got out a syringe and needle and held it over Shadow's arm. Then stopped all of a sudden.

"Umm, I can't find a vein," Tails said sheepishly. "I'll have to shave some of your fur-"

"Like hell you're doing that," Shadow exclaimed. He formed a chaos spear and sliced his arm open. "There!"

Tails sighed and managed to suck up enough of the blood with a needleless syringe, then he stuck the blood filled vial into the hand-held device. He gave Shadow a cloth and some bandages to clean and cover his wound, then started working the device.

"Umm guys," Tails said as his eyes widened. Sonic and Shadow walked over and stood either side of him, then looked at the screen. "Their ETA is ten minutes from now."

Shadow stood back and gasped in shock. Sonic looked at Shadow concernedly.

"We need to get those emeralds ready," Shadow said. "And pin point the location they'll land in then destroy them before any damage can be done."

Sonic nodded in agreement. He and Tails ran to the storage cupboard and unlocked the safe where all of the chaos emeralds were kept. There were a few little containers full of rings too, so they wouldn't run out of energy before the fight was over. Shadow and Sonic pocketed all of the emeralds and all the rings they would need.

"This is it. Good luck guys," Tails said. Sonic leaned in and gave Tails a firm hug goodbye. They patted each other on the back, and then Sonic left through the door. Shadow gave Tails a nod then followed after Sonic.

The two of them ran out into an open space in the middle of Mystic Ruins and waited for Tails to contact them on the communicators they had on their wrists. There was a crackle, then Tails' voice came through both of them.

"Watch out, guys, they're coming your way," Tails said. Shadow looked up to see many alien ships in the sky. When they got closer the sky around them turned red and mists of crimson engulfed the aliens above. Soon enough, they began falling. The clouds spread outwards until they were over Sonic and Shadow, and then two figures dropped down to them, one large and one small. The large one was Black Doom, and the small one… was a hedgehog.

He was black with red markings just like Shadow's. His spikes drooped just like Sonic's, and his eyes were rounded and emerald green. There was a white tuft of fur on his chest, similar to Shadow's. He wore gloves like Shadow, but instead of a red square on the front of the cuffs, there were black arms insignias in the colour red instead. His shoes were similar to Sonic's, no rockets on them, and in red and white, except the rims were red and the main part was white, resembling Shadow's rocket shoes.

Sonic and Shadow looked at the hedgehog in shock, both of them felt a bit of emotion try to escape. Sonic was most affected, he flinched slightly when he saw the hedgehog and how much it resembled the both of them. The new hedgehog had an arrogant, determined look on his face, he looked straight ahead, not making eye contact with either of his parents. Black Doom cut to the chase.

"I'd like to introduce you to Black Omen," Black Doom said. "A soldier trained from birth to be the ultimate warrior."

There was a moment of silence as Black Doom motioned his hand towards Black Omen, who said nothing.

"This is a new ultimate life form," Black Doom added in triumph. Shadow felt his blood boil. "Omen, kill them. You have five minutes. If the job isn't done, you will be punished severely. Remember the acid baths?"

Sonic's jaw dropped.

"Oh, don't worry. They weren't pure acid. They just… took off a layer of skin, didn't they Omen? You don't want to experience that again, do you?" Black Doom threatened. Omen still said nothing, he just leapt into action. He charged towards his parents with both fists. Shadow ran out in front of him with his fists ready. When Omen reached him, he threw a punch at Shadow, of which Shadow returned. But, Shadow found himself hitting thin air. Then, he felt a fist impact his back. Omen had deceived him, and used Chaos Control to teleport behind him last second. Shadow coughed out at the unexpected impact. Then Omen brought up his knee that hit Shadow between the legs, which caused Shadow to bend over in agony. Then Omen brought up his arm and elbowed him in the back with both arms. Then he leapt up, brought up his leg and kicked Shadow in the back of the head. All of this happened within a few seconds. By the time Sonic could react, Shadow was already skidding across the floor.

Sonic ran in to punch Omen in the face, but Omen put up his hand and caught the punch. Omen had a firm hold of his father's hand. With Sonic held firmly in place, Omen brought up his leg, bent it back then kicked Sonic square in the lower abdomen. As Sonic bent over in agony, Omen grabbed his throat and squeezed it tightly. Before he could hit Sonic again, he heard something.

"Chaos Spear!"

Omen disappeared, and the Chaos Spear went right past the spot he was standing, then he appeared right behind Shadow, and threw Sonic to him, as if he was a Frisbee. Shadow was knocked over, and pinned to the floor by Sonic's body until Sonic could shake his head and get back up.

"That's it, Sonic, the emeralds!" Shadow exclaimed. The two of them got into position and began to turn. But, Omen leapt towards them and knocked them both to the ground with a fist each. Each of the battered hedgehogs grabbed their jaws and noses in pain and gave a yell. Omen stood in front of them, looking down at them in disgust.

"Black Doom. They won't be a bother to us, is there really much point in killing them?" Omen asked arrogantly. His voice was deep like Shadow, but more sharp and confident like Sonic's than soft spoken like Shadow's.

"YES! Kill them! Kill them now!" Black Doom exclaimed. "I'm trusting you to do the job properly. Follow me once you're done." Black Doom floated towards his alien army, which was invading a nearby city.

Omen charged up a large special attack in both of his hands and he stepped back. Sonic and Shadow noticed a hint of guilt in Omen's eyes. He grit his teeth and let go. Shadow grabbed onto Sonic and hugged him tightly. There was a flash, the attack hit the spot Shadow and Sonic sat, there was no sign of them, and instead there was a large crater in their place.

"I'm sorry, Fathers…" Omen mumbled shamefully, then followed Black Doom.

He caught up to Black Doom, who was in the middle of watching his army of Black Arms soldiers destroying a city.

"The deed is done. Sonic and Shadow are dead," Omen alerted. Black Doom slowly turned to face Omen. The young hedgehog looked up at him, feeling intimidated. Suddenly, Black Doom's hand swiped across the air, and a projectile attack hit Omen in the face.

"Are you a fool!?" Black Doom yelled as Omen grabbed his bleeding face in pain and fell to his knees. "They are still alive! I can sense them!"

"I'm sorry, Master! There was no trace of them! I thought they were dead!" Omen yelled out, as if he was begging for mercy.

"I told you to use your senses you pathetic hedgehog!" Black Doom yelled. "Track them down and kill them right away!"

Omen nodded, got up and ran back out of the city to find his parents.

Meanwhile, Sonic and Shadow were hugging each other tightly, both of them shaken up by what had just happened.

"We could have been dead if it wasn't for my Chaos Control," Shadow said.

"No way, my Chaos Control!" Sonic said. Shadow pulled away from him.

"I teleported us!" Shadow yelled.

"No! I did!" Sonic yelled back.

"Whoever teleported us, had to teleport us because of your failure. Why did you just stand there while he battered me?"

"It all went so fast! I tried my best!" Sonic defended himself.

"You're supposed to be the fastest thing alive!" Shadow said. "If you're not fast enough to stop him then we have no hope of defeating him."

"Oh yeah? And you were supposed to be stronger than me, yet you couldn't beat him. So, it's you that failed us there. The fighting was more important than the speed there," Sonic argued. "And coming from me, that's saying something."

"You held back, didn't you Sonic? I told you not to think of him as our son," Shadow spat, ignoring what Sonic had to say.

"What!? No!" Sonic denied.

"Oh yes you did!" Shadow said.

"Fine! But don't tell me you felt nothing when you first saw him," Sonic said. Shadow opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He looked down.

"I hate you, Faker…" he said through his gritted teeth.

"Same here, Faker," Sonic said bitterly back and edged closer to him. "You nearly got yourself killed."

"Huh, and you…" Shadow said sadly and glanced at Sonic, seeing that he was right by him. Then he held his arms out and locked him into an inescapable hug. "There's no doubt he's going to find out we're still alive. So we either need to buck our ideas up, or make the most of our last moments."

They pulled apart when they suddenly heard a voice yell.

"Chaos Spears!"

They looked to the side to see two projectiles, and then felt white hot pain go through their torsos. They were impaled through their chests. Sonic choked out in pain and collapsed right to the floor. Shadow clutched his wound and glared at the attacker; it was Omen.

"If it wasn't for you us you wouldn't even exist you pathetic, ungrateful piece of scum," Shadow hissed, then winced in pain and fell to the floor right next to Sonic. "I swear… he'll pay…" he breathed out as he saw Sonic's limp body and closed eyes. Shadow's eyes closed soon after.


	28. Chapter 28

Sonic and Shadow sat in the basement of Tails' workshop; both of them bandaged at the chest. Their bandages were white and clean. Tails walked over to the both of them and untied their bandages. "No blood, and both wounds seem to have cleared up completely," Tails said.

The two hedgehogs got up. Shadow ran towards the door.

"No, Shadow. You can't leave yet. As soon as you walk out of that door, Black Doom will be able to sense you once again," Tails said. "And building this reinforced basement would have been for nothing. Just wait a while so I can set you guys up."

Shadow sat back down, crossed one leg over the other, folded his arms, and waited impatiently. Sonic began tapping his foot.

"Come on, Tails. You had a month to do this," Sonic said. "We're ready to go."

"You're _not_ ready to go," Tails said. "You didn't stand a chance against him before, and you won't now without the help of technology." He walked over to a cupboard and got out a box of tech. "Aright, these," he put two wrist devices on the table, "can be used to communicate with each other, they can also spawn shields so you can avoid getting impaled again. They can only be hit once before you have to re-spawn them manually, so be careful." He also got out two decided that were in the shape of a collar. "These, when worn, will block out all signals your DNA gives to Black Doom. So he can't sense you coming." He got out one pair of more devices. "And these are laser guns."

"No way, I'm not using a gun," Sonic said.

"Fine, I'll take both," Shadow said and picked up both of them. He held them out in front of him as if he was aiming to shoot. "It's been a while since I used something like this."

Tails snatched one of them off Shadow and passed it to Sonic.

"Use it. Remember, it's them, or you," Tails warned. "And if you're back here in a mere five minutes with another chest wound, then we'll have problems."

"Sure, Tails. I'll try my best," Sonic said. He put on the wrist device, and the collar. He took a gun belt from a rack on the wall and put his laser gun in there. Shadow did the same.

"But by all means, return if you think staying out there is life threatening. I'd rather you come back here then to find you dead," Tails said seriously. He walked to them to the door. "Ready?"

"More than ready," Shadow said and burst out of the door. Sonic shrugged and followed.

They walked out into a darkened world, the sky was filled with dark red clouds. The tint of red fell down upon their air and floor, giving every visible place a red tint to the dimness. Sonic grabbed onto Shadow's arm and held it tight, causing Shadow to looked at his partner in concern.

"Are you okay, Sonic?" Shadow asked.

"Shadow, I didn't think it would be this bad," Sonic said. "It looks like the whole world has been effected by some sort of apocalypse."

"It won't be for much longer," Shadow assured him. "We're going to get those emeralds from him and then we're going to destroy him. We've discussed the tactics, we can't lose."

"But we're too late for all of those people who are already-"

Shadow interrupted Sonic by putting a hand over his mouth.

"Never mind them. There's nothing we can do," he said softly. Sonic looked down sadly. Shadow lifted Sonic's head back up softly from under the chin. "But we can save those who remain."

"Sure, with the power of teamwork," Sonic said with a grin. Shadow took his hand away from Sonic's chin.

"That's the Faker I know," he said with a slight smirk.

Their conversation was interrupted by Tails' voice through the communicators on their wrists.

"I've pinpointed Black Doom's location. He's in Westopolis," Tails said.

"It's interesting that he'd land there again," Shadow said. "The original site the Black Comet landed in."

"Whatever, Shadow, let's just go!" Sonic yelled impatiently then took a head start. Shadow chased after him.

They arrived in Westopolis to see complete and utter destruction. There was nothing but rubble; not one building stood. They stopped to look at the damage. Shadow glanced at Sonic's face; the blue hedgehog looked distraught.

"Shadow, they're all dead," Sonic trembled. "And it's all out fault."

"Don't be ridiculous, Sonic! It's Black Doom's fault! He did this!" Shadow yelled.

"We weren't there to save them! And it's our child that enabled this to happen!" Sonic yelled. Shadow didn't know what to say, so he was silent. "Even if we save whoever's left now, we'll still be hated. I already hate myself." Sonic sounded deeply upset, even on the verge of tears. Shadow hugged him tightly.

"I guess that's how it was meant to be…" Shadow said solemnly, feeling a strong pang of guilt go through his stomach. It was his fault since he was the one to let Black Doom go with Omen in the first place, he was also the one who made the deal in the first place too. Sonic pulled away.

"We need to get going," Sonic said. "The longer we stand here, the more people die."

Shadow nodded in agreement, but before they ran, Omen and Black Doom appeared in front of them. The two hedgehogs tensed up and got into their defensive stances.

"So, the two of you have finally decided to show yourselves," Black Doom said arrogantly. "I knew you were alive all of this time."

Sonic and Shadow looked shocked.

"Oh, those devices of yours may have confused my senses but, I could still sense it was you," Black Doom said. "They don't block out the signals completely, so I was able to work my way through the distortion and find out that the two of you are still alive. And I've been preparing for your arrival this whole time."

There was a moment of silence before Black Doom pointed down at Omen, who spawned the Chaos Emeralds and turned super in a few seconds. Sonic and Shadow stepped back, the both of them grabbed each other's arms. Omen flew up into the air, then came crashing down, pushing the two of them down and into a crater that was created upon their impact. The two of them laid together bloody and beaten. Then Omen flew back to Black Doom and hovered in front of them.

"That's all we need to do. They won't bother us anymore," Omen said to Black Doom boldly.

"That's what you thought the last time. Make sure they're dead this time. I don't want to see a trace of them," Black Doom said. Omen turned to Sonic and Shadow, who looked up at the ominous glowing hedgehog in fear.

"Th-this is it, Shadow," Sonic trembled. "We didn't stand a chance."

"The… bastard," Shadow hissed and hugged Sonic tighter, then hid the blue hedgehog's face in his own black shoulder. Then he looked at Omen furiously. "I can't let him get away with this." He put his hand out and sent a Chaos Spear, which bounced right off of Omen.

"Try all you want to, Shadow," Black Doom said arrogantly. "But you can't save the humans. They're all ready for the Black Arms' consumption."

Shadow's eyes narrowed and a growl sounded in his throat.

"You mean you haven't killed any of them yet?" Shadow asked angrily.

"None, we decided to conquer the whole planet first and that once we get all of the human race under captivity, we will begin our feast," Black Doom said in anticipation. "And that task has been completed. We just need to make sure our feast will not go interrupted."

Shadow's eyes widened, there was still a chance to save them.

"Shadow, we have to do something… we can't just sit here," Sonic said urgently. "We need to save them."

"I know…" Shadow whispered, then let go of Sonic. He stood up, as if to challenge Omen. "Faker, remember when I challenged you while you were in your super form?"

Sonic nodded.

"Yeah, you held up pretty well," Sonic said. He stood up too.

"It's time to try again," Shadow said. He gave Omen a determined look; he was ready to fight. He held out his arms. "Come at me! I'm ready this time!"

Omen flew down at Shadow again. Sonic saw the speed that Omen was going at and realised Shadow's certain doom. He ran out to Shadow at top speed, every millisecond felt like an hour. The blue hedgehog grit his teeth and charged forward. Each rapid step hit the ground with a small echo, and the dirt around him displaced and became clouds of dust. Sonic edged closer and closer towards Shadow, as Omen did the same. At the last moment, Sonic leapt into the air, displacing another plume of dust. He put out his arms, which hit Shadow's back, and pushed the dark hedgehog onto the floor. Shadow went down, hitting the dusty, rocky floor face first. Sonic landed on top of him. Omen flew right over the top of them. Sonic turned around quickly to see his son soar away from them.

"He should have hit me instead, why did he miss?" Sonic asked himself.

"F-faker! Get off, what are you doing?" Shadow yelled.

"Saving your ass, you would have died. I held back for you when I was in my super form, but Omen wouldn't have, you idiot!" Sonic yelled at him as he got up.

"You held back?" Shadow asked as he got up too. "But, why? I thought all this time that I could hold up against a super form." Sonic rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment and chuckled.

"I guess I cared about you at the time," Sonic said. "I mean… considering what happened later that day."

"We made him," Shadow said through his gritted teeth and turned around to see Omen floating above them. "Which I completely regret now."

Omen gasped in shock, then narrowed his eyes in hatred.

"Shadow," Sonic snapped. "You can't say that. He may be trying to kill us, but you never tell a kid you wish you never had them."

"Why?" Shadow asked stubbornly. "It's not like it matters. He'll be dead when I'm done with him."

Omen shot down towards Shadow like a swooping bird and picked him up, then swerved upwards again. Shadow yelped as he was carried through the air at a stomach wrenching speed. Omen picked up speed, then smashed into the ground with Shadow still in his grasp. The young hedgehog floated back up again, not a scratch on him. Shadow, however, was suffering in a crater in the ground.

"AH! You sonfa-"

Shadow was hit with a large Chaos Spear before he could finish his sentence. Sonic arrived at the scene, having run after them. He stopped at the edge of the large crater, looked up at Omen with wide eyes, then glanced down at Shadow, who was in a state. The dark hedgehog was covered with blood, bruises and dirt. But he still seemed to be trying, reaching out his hand to push himself to his feet. But he didn't get anywhere. Then, the struggling stopped and Shadow fell limp. Sonic ran down to Shadow, expecting to get pummelled by Omen in the process. But he reached Shadow, and nothing happened. He turned around to see Omen still floating above the crater, just watching them. Sonic looked back down at Shadow and shook him.

"Shadow," he said desperately. There was no response. The blue hedgehog looked at his motionless partner distraughtly. "Shadow, please!"

"He's not dead," Omen said as he descended down towards the floor. "I can sense him, sadly."

Sonic stood in front of his dark companion protectively. He looked at Omen, not bothering to hide his fear.

"Father," Omen said softly and held out his hand. Sonic's facial expression changed to that of confusion. Before he could question what was going on, Black Doom appeared by them.

"Omen, the utilisation of the human's energy has begun," the villain announced.

Omen swallowed and flew towards Black Doom, away from Sonic.

"Stay back. Your purpose has been fulfilled," Black Doom said and put the palm of his hand out. Omen looked at Black Doom in fear. "I no longer need you."

Omen gasped and fell to his knees.


	29. Chapter 29

"Please, Black Doom. I'm nothing without you!" Omen exclaimed.

"That doesn't matter to me," Black Doom said nonchalantly.

"And you're nothing without me!" Omen said through his gritted teeth, suddenly becoming angry.

"Is that so?" Black Doom questioned, sounding amused. He chuckled, which made Omen snap. He flew towards Black Doom, who disappeared before Omen could hit him. He appeared behind Omen and hit him with a Chaos Attack. This one did not bounce right off of Omen like Shadow's had, instead it hit Omen head on and caused him to yelp in pain.

"Stop!" Sonic yelled. Omen fell in a heap on the floor, still in his super form.

"You're a fool. Did you think I'd train you to be stronger than me!?" Black Doom exclaimed. "Now accept your redundancy and leave me be." Black Doom floated away, and Omen watched him from the floor as he left. The young hedgehog put his hand out as if he tried to reach for Black Doom and stop him.

Sonic ran over to Omen and bent down so he was at his level. The young hedgehog looked at Sonic in despair.

"I did so much for him," Omen said, his voice breaking, then his anger built up. "And he could have just done it all himself! He made me think I was important!"

"You are important. At least to us," Sonic said and put a hand on Omen's shoulder. "We missed you, ya' know."

"He didn't," Omen grumbled as he sat up. He glanced at the direction Shadow was in.

"Shadow's just an asshole," Sonic said. "Ignore what he says." Omen looked at Sonic in surprise, as if he wasn't expecting him to be so blunt. "What? You _know_ he is, don't act like he isn't."

"But why?" Omen asked sadly. "And why towards me… when you're so nice to me." Sonic took in a deep breath as he thought about his answer.

"Shadow… never bonded with you when you were born," Sonic said. "Not like I did."

"Why!? It's like he's always hated me!" Omen yelled. Sonic looked towards the crater sadly, he saw a white gloved hand touch the rim.

"I think it's complicated…" Sonic said solemnly. Then he got up ran over to Shadow to help him out of the crater.

"F-Faker… we need to help the… the humans…" Shadow choked and grabbed onto Sonic as he stumbled.

"Yeah," Sonic agreed. "And now we have help." Shadow didn't answer for a few moments, he seemed to be thinking. Then he looked forward to see Omen, his eyes were squinted in pain and his sight was blurry but he could just make out who it was. The yellow glowing up his fur helped. "Omen."

"WHAT!?" Shadow yelled and pushed Sonic away. "That ungrateful-"

Sonic covered Shadow's mouth before he could say anymore.

"Black Doom's disowned him!" Sonic yelled. "And now he's eating the humans or somethin'. We need to stop it!" Shadow pushed Sonic away.

"By collaborating with him?" Shadow asked incredulously. Sonic put his hands out as if he was going to say something in his defence. "Let's do it," he said in determination as he wiped some blood from his mouth. "It's the only way we can defeat him."

"That's the spirit, Shadow!" Sonic cheered, then led Shadow over to Omen.

"Not before I say something to him first," he said bitterly as he pulled away from Sonic and limped over to Omen. The young hedgehog just stood there, giving Shadow a hard and emotionless look, standing tall over Shadow's hunched stature.

"Shadow, wait, don't," Sonic called after him.

"Promise you're on our side from now on," Shadow said to Omen. "And that this isn't some kind of trick to take us down, or keep us busy while Black Doom consumes the humans."

"Oh, please. I don't need a trick to take you down, Shadow," Omen said arrogantly. Shadow looked down and hissed in embarrassment. "Does that convince you?"

"Yeah," Shadow said under his breath. "I guess we're a team now."

"That's right!" Sonic said enthusiastically. "Now let's show that creep the real power of teamwork!"

Shadow rolled his eyes at Sonic's catchphrase. Omen just has an expression of embarrassment on his face.

"You two are my parents…" he said in a humiliating realisation.

"Yep. And you'll answer to us at all times," Shadow said, asserting his authority. "And show us some respect."

"Doesn't quite work like that, Shadow," Sonic said. "Didn't exactly earn the respect yet."

"Then how will we get him to help us defeat Black Doom?" Shadow asked.

"Oh… I don't need anyone to tell me to do that," Omen said mischievously. "He'll pay whether I'm told to take revenge on him or not."

"Well, that works for me," Shadow said. "Let's go!"

Omen nodded as Sonic and Shadow stood either side of him. Omen put his arms out and granted his parents the power of the Chaos Emeralds. The power began channelling through their bodies, and the remaining two hedgehogs shone brightly like their child.

"Yeah! Let's do this!" Sonic exclaimed in excitement.

"Black Doom, you will pay!" Omen cried out, but then began to look drained. His yellow glow flashed a few times until it faded. He fell to his knees. Both Sonic and Shadow leant in to catch him before his face hit the floor.

"He's been in his superform for like, forever now," Sonic said. "He must be exhausted."

"And useless to us," Shadow said. "What will we do now?"

"I'm sorry you hate me so much, Shadow," Omen said tiredly. Shadow said nothing. "Not denying it?"

"I… I… don't hate you…" Shadow said hesitantly. "But don't expect me to show you love either." He pointed a stern finger.

"Like I said earlier, Omen, Shadow is an asshole," Sonic said, then left his super form. Shadow followed and the emeralds dispatched. Shadow gave Sonic a look of disproval, which the blue hedgehog ignored. "Why he is, though, we'll never know."

"We should know," Omen said then turned to Shadow. "Why are you such an asshole?"

"I'm not," Shadow said. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"He hardly listens to what you say, either," Sonic remarked.

"I am listening; I just know you're wrong," Shadow said. "And an idiot. Telling Omen how much of a dick I am right now, isn't going to save the humans. We need to find those emeralds and destroy Black Doom.",

"Right," Sonic said in acknowledgement "Let's split up so we can find them quicker."

"How will we find each other afterwards?" Omen asked.

"The emeralds shine brighter the closer they get to each other. We'll find each other, don't you worry," Sonic said. Shadow ran off immediately to the left. Sonic gave Omen a pat on the back. "You can do it, Son." Then he ran in the opposite direction of where Shadow went, to the right. Omen took a deep breath and went straight forward.


	30. Chapter 30

All was quiet in the outskirts of the city of Westopolis. There was only the sound of light rain and Sonic and Shadow's footsteps as they stepped up to Black Doom. Every one of their footsteps sounded crystal clear in the quiet, tense atmosphere. The hedgehogs bravely stood in front of Black Doom, as if to challenge him.

"So, you've decided to risk your lives again," Black Doom said. "Although, this time, your lives won't be at risk. Instead, I'll be sure to kill the both of you."

Sonic and Shadow stepped closer to each other and held hands tightly. They glanced at each other anxiously, then looked back at Black Doom with confidence.

"It'll be you who will die, Black Doom," Shadow threatened.

"Enough of the redundant pre-battle talk," Black Doom snapped. "You don't even have the emeralds with you. This will be over in a second." The alien raised his hand and a chaos attack formed in it. Suddenly, he was hit from behind. Something fast and glowing hit the back of his head at full force. Black Doom was thrown miles forward, into the falling sky scrapers of the city. A distance crash sounded, and there was a small rumble; another building had probably been destroyed. Black Doom appeared back to see Omen, floating confidently in his super form. He flew over to Sonic and Shadow, and gave them the power of the Chaos Emeralds too. In a quick flash of light, all three hedgehogs were in their super form, ready to fight together.

"Is it really us who will die this time, Black Doom?" Shadow smirked.

"Do you honestly think that any of you can defeat me?" Black Doom asked. "Not even Omen could defeat me. I made sure I trained him to be weaker than me."

"We know, you told us before," Sonic said, smiling smugly.

"But did you think of my power combined with my parents' power?" Omen asked. "They're pretty strong."

"Not even the two of them together could defeat me!" Black Doom boasted.

"They couldn't defeat me, either," Omen said. "But now we're a team."

"And we'll defeat you with the power of teamwork!" Sonic yelled.

Black Doom sighed.

"I didn't think I'd have to use this trick again but…" he said ominously. He held out his hand. Shadow and Omen fell to their knees, holding their heads in pain. Sonic gasped then looked at Black Doom in fear. "Strange. Shadow gave you his DNA, you should be effected by this too. No matter, you cannot defeat me alone anyway."

"You're right," Sonic said. "But I can help them to overcome the mind control."

"Not if I kill you," Black Doom said, raising his attack back up in his hand.

"Gotta catch me first!" Sonic said, then flew out of range for Black Doom's attack. The alien threw it at the spot on the floor where Sonic had been standing, but missed. Sonic shot back and forth, but stayed close by so Black Doom would think he had a chance.

Shadow and Omen, who were suffering on the floor, heard Sonic speak through his communicator.

"Guys, you've gotta overcome his mind control," Sonic said. "Shadow, you've done it before, you can do it again."

"It's not that easy, Faker!" Shadow yelled through his own.

"But you have done it before?" Omen asked, sounding intrigued. "I've never been able to do that."

"It… takes a lot of will power, and it helps that you have a reason to go on… but, I don't see much reason anymore. We've tried for so long and… it's starting to look as if we can't do it," Shadow said, sounding down.

"Shadow, that's crazy talk, especially coming from you!" Sonic yelled, as he continued to whizz around. "We have Omen back. We're a family now. That's reason enough to try again." Shadow looked at Omen sadly.

"Yeah, I suppose…" Shadow said.

"You suppose?" Omen said, sounding offended. "How about, yeah, you're right! I have my son back now!"

"That's the spirit, Omen!" Sonic said. "You're back with us!"

"And you'll fight with us," Shadow said. "So you can defeat Black Doom, then live with us. Like… I've always wanted." It sounded as if Shadow struggled to say that last part, but the words came right from his heart.

Omen looked touched.

"I didn't think you felt that way, Shadow. I mean… Dad," Omen said. Shadow cursed under his breath and looked away. Suddenly, he was bombarded with a hug. "We're going to do this for each other, the three of us."

Shadow looked back at Omen when he felt the hug. Omen had moved, which meant he'd overcome the mind control. Shadow tried to move too, but couldn't.

"Well guys? How's it going?" Sonic asked.

"I can move, but Shadow can't!" Omen said.

"Darn it, Shadow, wasn't that enough inspiration for you?" Sonic asked.

"It should have been," Omen remarked.

"Just remember your promise to Maria… and all of those other humans that are suffering. They need to be freed. They need revenge. Black Doom has made a laughing stock outta you. You were supposed to protect those humans, and you failed because of him. Your purpose, has been tainted. Your reputation is ruined, because of him. You-"

"GAAAAAH!" Shadow screamed at the top of his lungs. He burst out of his frozen state, then flew up to Black Doom's level. While the alien was distracted by Sonic's rapid movements, still trying to hit him with his chaos attacks, Shadow hit him head on, just as Omen had done. Black Doom went skidding across the floor. Then Shadow sent an attack of his own, a giant Chaos Spear. "This is something I've been practicing for years."

The spear in his hand was twice the size of Shadow's body.

"CHAOS… SPEAR!"

The spear went down towards Black Doom at the speed of light, and hit him straight on. The alien cried out in agony. Then, Sonic came crashing down too at a terrifying speed, and smashed into Black Doom as he was still suffering from the last attack.

Sonic, Shadow and Omen regrouped.

"It looks as if we're actually getting somewhere, look," Sonic said, then pointed to the scratched, bruised mess Black Doom had become.

"It looks like all of those years of training did come in handy, we just needed one other person to help us," Shadow said, then looked at Omen.

Then chaos energy expelled from Black Doom's body, much like a Chaos Blast. The three hedgehogs were blasted with the white hot energy, their whole bodies burned by the heat and beaten by the impact. They choked, coughed and spluttered, then fell to the floor.

"Darn… should have seen that coming," Sonic said in frustration as he looked down at the floor in pain. He forced himself to look up, and the first thing that caught his eye was a pink figure, standing in the distance. "A-amy?"

"Rouge?" Shadow said straight after. That's when Sonic noticed that it wasn't just Amy that was watching them in the distance, there were others. Then his communicator sounded.

"Sonic, can you hear me?" Tails' voice came. Sonic's facial expression picked up.

"Tails, buddy!" Sonic yelled cheerily.

"Yes, it's me. I managed to gather the gang back together," Tails said.

"Sonic, can you hear me!? I believe in you?" the sound of a mature Amy came through.

"And us, Sonic," Rouge said.

"Yes, Sonic. You'd better sort this or else we're all screwed," Knuckles said. "And you, Shadow! You put in everything you have!"

"Knuckles?" Shadow questioned to himself. "I wonder if he still hates me after all of this time…" He squinted his eyes and spotted him standing next to Rouge, they were holding hands. "They… didn't break up because of me. That's a good sign."

"Sonic, I have a young girl… her name is Lilly. Her father died because of the Black Arms… and, if I lose her too, I'll be devastated," Amy said distraughtly. "You have to destroy those aliens now!"

"Knuckles and I were hoping to adopt but… the world has fallen apart so… it's kind of impossible now. You have to fix this," Rouge said, pleadingly.

"Alright!" Sonic said, with even more determination than before. "Let's do this! For our old friends, and their new families!"

At that point, Black Doom was back up and in almost full recovery. He pointed a shot towards Sonic and Shadow's friends. Sonic's eyes widened, teeth clenched and heart rate increased. Time seemed to slow down again. He jumped up, despite the pain he was in and started running towards his friends. Shadow, also jumped up, but straight forwards, and towards Black Doom. Omen, leapt onto his feet, then jumped upwards with a flip, then flew back into action. He also flew in Black Doom's general direction. Sonic, in the process of running, gave a slight jump, and began flying again as he inched closer to the vulnerable group. Shadow, charged towards Black Doom like a diving bird of prey, whilst Omen curved around the alien, faster than Shadow. Sonic put out his arms, to reach for Tails, who was closest to him.

The shot was fired.

The laser like chaos attack grew closer to the group of friends; it was strong enough to cause a large explosion. Sonic grabbed onto Tails, then Amy and threw them out of the way. Meanwhile, Shadow streamlined his body and hit Black Doom right in the chest, his own body becoming like a bullet. Omen did the same soon after, having curved around to come back and hit Black Doom in the back. Shadow and Omen went through the alien's body, flying out either side. Green alien blood splattered out, like a splash and sprinkled the surrounding area. Meanwhile again, the laser was a mere inch away from the spot the group were stood. Sonic grabbed onto Rouge and Knuckles, then threw them out of the way. The four of them landed together, at a safe distance from the explosion.

Everything that was once a blur, was normal again. Black Doom's body slumped, as his attack blasted a crater in the ground in the distance. Sonic rushed back to the two hedgehogs, who was sprinkled with Black Doom's blood, which had sprayed the surrounding area with green splats.

"What just happened!?" Rouge exclaimed. "I didn't see it!"

"Were we just thrown over here by that explosion?" Amy asked.

"No, I think it was Sonic. He saved us from it," Tails said.

"Could he really be that fast?" Knuckles asked. "I knew he was the fastest thing alive, but can he really be so fast we didn't see anything?"

As the debate happened, the three hedgehogs panted as they looked over Black Doom's body. It was a complete mess, pretty much dead.

"I think this is finally it," Sonic said.

"No," Shadow said. "We need to make sure he's dead. For real this time."

"You mean like, disintegrate him?" Sonic asked.

"Yes, but we have to do it together. Our power combined will surely create a laser strong enough to make sure there isn't a trace of him left."

"Alright then," Sonic said, then started to fly up into position. Suddenly, Shadow saw Black Doom twitch.

"Hurry! He's moving!" Shadow yelled. Then shot up a few miles off of the ground. Sonic and Omen followed. Sonic and Shadow hovered either side of Omen. Each of them put the palms of their hands out and charged large spherical attacks.

"This is it… I'm going to be free from him forever…" Omen said in anticipation. Suddenly, his sphere grew double the size. "Ready!?"

"Yes," Shadow said.

"GO!" Sonic yelled. All of them released their spheres at the same time. They combined to make one ten times the size of Black Doom himself. The heat and strength of the energy sizzled Black Doom's body into ashes, and then to steam, which dissipated into the air. A large crater blasted into the ground with a large bang, then dust settled and all was quiet once again.

Then, just as the Black Arms arrived, by falling onto the earth, they all left. Sonic, Shadow and Omen, watched as the many specs in the distance, and the distinguishable alien figures nearby floated upwards, as if retreating through beams on their alien ships.

"I guess the thick fog was hiding their ships all along," Shadow speculated.

"Yes, they were. Now that they've sensed the death of their leader, they're retreating due to fear. They all think they will be next," Omen explained.

"They will be next," Shadow said and smirked. "Grab on." Omen looked at Shadow in confusion. Sonic sighed he grabbed onto Omen, and then onto Shadow. Shadow teleported them elsewhere with Chaos Control. The surroundings were metallic and eerily silent.

"Where are we?" Omen asked as he looked around.

"Space Colony ARK," Shadow said. "And just through that room, is the eclipse canon's control room." Shadow pointed towards a large door. They all ran inside it and towards the control panel.

"Now, we need to expel the emeralds without losing them," Shadow said. "It's a risk, but I've managed to do it before."

"Do they go in here?" Omen asked, then pointed to the seven slots in the middle of the machine. Shadow nodded. "I think Black Doom mentioned this to me before… we were going to destroy it, but since he thought you wouldn't be able to get to it, since I was meant to kill you… we didn't bother."

"Good," Shadow said. Sonic left his super form, and so did Omen. "Oh, I guess this all rests on me now."

"You did say you'd done it before," Sonic said and rolled his eyes. Shadow glared at him, then took in a deep breath and concentrated on the slots in front of him. He closed his eyes, and left his super form, but pure concentration on moving the emeralds to the rightful slots, kept them from escaping. They all floated over, and clicked into place one by one.

"Shadow, you did it!" Sonic said, sounding amazed.

"Good," Shadow said. His eyes snapped open. "Now, Sonic. Run to the front of the ARK, where a window is, so you can tell me whether or not I hit the aliens." Sonic nodded and ran out of the room. Omen looked anxious and clueless; Shadow noticed this. "Don't worry, just leave it to us."

"Alright, I'm there. They're in line with the cannon, escaping like a swarm or something," Sonic said through his communicator. "Fire now and you should hit them!" Shadow heard and hit the 'fire' button. There was a large mechanical whirring, then the ARK shook for a few moments. Then, silence. Shadow's heart beat quickened as he waited for Sonic's response. There was nothing.

"Sonic?" Shadow asked. No response. "Sonic! FAKER!"

Sonic then rushed through the door with his arms in the air.

"WOO HOO! You did it!" Sonic cheered. Shadow sighed in relief. "Nearly hit the Earth but… I don't think anyone noticed."

Shadow grit his teeth at that close call.

"And to top things off, we have the Chaos Emeralds," Sonic said then reached for them. As soon as he made contact with them, they all disappeared.

"We didn't get away with that, Faker. They still escape anyway," Shadow said.

"Yeah, I know, it just happened," Sonic grumbled. Omen sighed.

"These are my parents…" he said in another realisation. "I'm going to end up just like you two now that I'm going to live with you, aren't I?"

"Yep," Sonic said and put his arm around Shadow. "And we're going to have to punish you for trying to kill us." Sonic and Shadow smirked at each other mischievously. "What shall we do with him first?" Omen was taken aback by this, anxious for his punishment. Would he be thrown in another acid pit?

"Death hug?" Shadow asked ominously. Sonic nodded, and they both jumped in. Omen was locked into his death hug. There was muffled screams and flailing, but Omen was okay. And despite it being uncomfortable, the hug was a sign that there were no real grudges against the young hedgehog, and that Sonic and Shadow loved Omen, as much as they loved each other.

The End


End file.
